The Fire King

by Paul Crilley

  Emily knew they should turn around and head to the north end of the fort in an attempt to find another way out, but she couldn’t help herself. She had to see what was happening. She hurried out onto the grass, facing toward the south wall. The fire was now off to her right, the flames casting a demonic glow over the scene before her.

  It was a battle. An army had appeared from nowhere, surprising the fey who were surrounding the White Tower. It was hard to make out what was going on in the dim light, but a moment later, a small skirmish involving a Tuatha and two children staggered into view.

  “It’s Katerina!” said William. “She didn’t run off. She went to get help. I told you!”

  Will was right. It was Katerina’s gang. But many, many more than had surrounded them at the Thames when they had first arrived. Emily skimmed her eyes over the escalating battle, feeling a tentative hope spring to life in her chest. It looked as though the fey were evenly matched in numbers.

  And then Emily saw Katerina. She was slicing an iron sword through the air, a look of fierce determination set on her features. A goblin fell before her blade, dissolving into a smoky black puddle. She quickly stepped over it and attacked one of the Tuatha. The tall creature was caught by surprise. He tried to parry with his spear, but Katerina’s blade cut it in half. She darted forward through the opening and stabbed the creature through the chest, yanking her sword out and turning to look for her next victim.

  As she did so, she caught sight of Will and Emily. She raised her sword in a hasty tribute, then turned to block an axe that was swinging for her. She pushed her attacker back, a squat creature that appeared to have no neck. The creature stumbled, and Katerina put her boot against it and pushed, shoving it onto its back. She finished it off with one swift thrust.

  “Come on,” said Emily. “She’s given us our distraction.” Emily and William turned and ran across the grass, heading for the north end of the enclosure. There was a series of structures built up against the wall, sheds of some kind.

  They hurried along a path that wound between them and arrived at one of the towers that was built into the wall. They ran through the exit, only to be confronted with a lowered portcullis blocking their escape.

  There was a small door set into the wall to their left. Emily pushed it open and found herself in a small guardroom. There was a huge iron cog set into a hole in the floor. A thick metal chain was looped around the cog, disappearing into a slit in the roof.

  “Help me here,” she said, grasping hold of the iron wheel.

  She and Will leaned on it with all their weight, pushing it toward the ground. It moved slowly, grudgingly. They struggled with it for a full minute until they had raised the portcullis enough for them to slip under.

  They found themselves in the outer ward of the fort, stuck between the two walls. There was no gate in the wall ahead of them, though. Emily looked to her left, but she could still see the flames lighting the sky. They couldn’t go that way. There had to be another gate, because Katerina and her gang had entered from the south side.

  “This way,” she said, turning to her right and running along the wall.

  The sounds of fighting grew louder as they approached the south end of the enclosure. Sure enough, she could see a gate up ahead. More of Katerina’s gang were arriving, streaming in from the streets, raising their weapons to join the battle.

  Emily and Will hurried beneath another portcullis and out through a heavy gate set into the outer wall. They had made it. They were free of the tower. Emily paused to take a breath. Now they had to head back around the wall to the northwest to get to Tower Hill.

  “Let’s go,” she gasped, setting off at a run.

  Emily and William finally rounded the north side of the Tower of London and sprinted across the road to Tower Hill. It wasn’t much of a hill, though. It was more of a gentle slope that spread away to either side of them. A small sward of grass.

  They hurried toward the crown of the hill. Emily cast frequent glances behind her as they did so. She could see the line of fire that had chased them to the tower. It still wasn’t moving. As they ran up the hill, Emily fished out the stone that Merlin had shown them. The one that was supposed to get them into Tower Hill. What was she supposed to do with it? Find a keyhole somewhere?

  They arrived at the hill summit. It wasn’t even high enough to let them see over the tower walls to the battle happening inside. Emily turned in a slow circle, looking for anything that might help. She could see nothing.

  “What do we do now?” asked William.

  “I don’t know,” said Emily. She inspected the stone.

  “Put it on the ground,” said William.

  Emily shrugged and placed it on the grass.

  A deep rumbling echoed beneath her feet. The rumbling grew stronger, a vibration that threatened to throw them to the ground.

  A small hole opened up at Emily’s feet. She staggered backward, grabbing William as she did so. The hole grew in size, earth and grass crumbling away. The bottom edge of the hole pushed down and flattened the grass so that after a few seconds it was no longer a hole in the ground, but a dark entrance into a tunnel.

  The rumbling stopped. Emily and William walked hesitantly forward. Emily kicked something, and she looked down to find the stone lying at her feet. She scooped it up and dropped it into her pocket.

  William looked at her. “You ready?” he asked.

  Emily nodded. She wasn’t, not really, but she didn’t think Will was, either. They simply had no choice.

  Emily held her hand out. William hesitated, then took hold of it, and they both stepped into the darkness.

  The light from outside gave them a small amount of illumination. But only for a short while. As they walked deeper into the tunnel, the decline grew steeper and steeper, and the darkness folded in around them, leaving them totally blind.

  After they had been walking for about five minutes, a flare of light froze them both in their tracks. To their left and right small flames had leapt up inside half-moon bowls that were built into the walls. There was some kind of aqueduct linking the two bowls with another two farther down the tunnel, then to the next and to the next. Emily and William watched as the flames traveled along these aqueducts, lighting each bowl in turn until there were fires dwindling into the distance.

  They could now get a good look at their surroundings. The tunnel was massive, easily wide enough to fit twenty people walking side by side. The ceiling arched high above them. The walls were made from old stones fitted neatly together. Despite the obvious age of the tunnel, the stones didn’t even crumble beneath her touch.

  “Impressive,” said Emily. Her voice echoed into the distance.

  Judging by the bowls of fire, the tunnel moved in an absolute straight line down into the earth. It looked as though they had a long way to go, so they started to run, aware that every passing second meant added danger to Katerina and her friends. She and her gang were tough, and they matched the fey in number, but who knew how long they could hold out. Emily didn’t even know if summoning the Raven King would help them. What if he was too far away? What if he was out of the city? Traveling somewhere else?

  These were all doubts that Emily tried to force from her mind. Thinking such thoughts did nothing to help the situation.

  She became aware that the scene up ahead was changing. The two lines of fire, which up until now had seemed to meet up in the far distance, had gradually begun to separate. Emily realized this was because they were coming to the end of the tunnel.

  “Nearly there,” grunted William.

  They put on an extra burst of speed and because of this almost fell into the huge hole in the ground at the end of the tunnel. Emily skidded to a halt when she saw the vast darkness that swallowed the light from the fire bowls. She reached out to grab Will, and they both slid to a stop, teetering over the edge of the vast pit.

  William swayed backward and managed to yank Emily with him. They both fell to the ground, panting fr
om fear and exertion. Emily got to her knees and crawled forward. She couldn’t see anything. Just a black … nothingness that seemed to swallow light. She found a small stone and dropped it over the edge.

  She didn’t hear it land.

  She stood up and brushed off her hands. “Over to you, William,” she said, handing him the journal.

  William slowly pushed himself up and took the book from Emily’s hands. He opened it to the relevant page and nervously cleared his throat.

  “Acht’in segara. Betan mie alora ti. Vitaj’kel, amata yi.”

  He closed the book.

  “That’s it?” asked Emily. “What does it mean?”

  “I’ve no idea,” said William.

  At first there was nothing, but then Emily thought she heard a dry, whispering sound, like sand coursing through a funnel. She peered into the pit. The noise was coming from far below, but also off into the distance, as if the pit was wide as well as deep.

  The sound grew louder—a scraping, rasping sound. Then she heard a fierce huff, as if something was drawing breath. She glanced at William, alarmed. His features were set in a determined look. He wouldn’t back away now. Not after going through so much to get them here.

  The dry rasping grew closer, and Emily heard something else, too. The scraping of stone, then the fall of pebbles. As they stood there listening, the noises fell into a pattern. First the scrape, then the fall of pebbles, then the dry rasping sound.

  It took Emily a while to realize the sounds were that of a creature climbing up the wall of the pit, gripping the stone with claws before pulling itself up, scraping its stomach on the stone as it climbed. This time she did take a step back. Whatever was coming sounded incredibly big.

  Emily caught a glimpse of something, a brief hint of dark blue and green, sliding into the light for the briefest second before moving into the darkness again. It reminded her of something, but she couldn’t think what. She saw it again, a flash of blue and green sliding through the dark, rasping against the stone.

  That was when she realized what it reminded her of. A snake, coiling and twining as it moved. And the dry rasping sound had to be the scales rubbing against the wall of the pit.

  She grabbed hold of Will’s arm and pulled him backward. He was about to complain, but at that moment a massive reptilian head heaved up above the lip of the dark pit and gazed down at them.

  Emily’s mouth fell open.

  It was a dragon. She was staring at a dragon. There was no possible way she could deny it. No chance of saying it was something else.

  It was a dragon.

  Its head was easily half as tall as the White Tower. It filled the space, almost touching the distant roof. It pointed its blunt, pockmarked snout downward until it was no more than five paces away. Heat wafted out of nostrils the size of doors. Ruby-colored eyes stared at them.

  The dragon sniffed, almost pulling them both off their feet. Then it exhaled, knocking them both onto their backsides.

  Who speaks the ancient tongue? Who summons the Pendragon from her sleep? Have I not earned my rest?

  The voice echoed inside Emily’s head. She scrambled to her feet. “Uh … I, that is, we do. Summon you.”

  On whose authority?

  Emily thought for a moment. “Merlin’s? Britain is in danger. The Fire King has been summoned, and he is burning the city to the ground. He will destroy the whole of Britain unless he is stopped.”

  The dragon paused as if in thought. You wish to summon the power of the Pendragon?

  “Yes! Please. Before it’s too late.”

  Does the Pendragon bloodline still live on?

  “We … we don’t know. We weren’t sure how this worked.”

  So be it. It is done.

  The dragon’s head lowered slowly back into the pit. They heard the sound of it climbing back down the walls. Emily drew a shaky breath and looked at William. He was pale, his eyes wide as he stepped forward and stared down into the darkness.

  Then he turned to her with a huge grin on his face. “Did we just summon a dragon?”

  Emily couldn’t help but grin back. “I think we did. Come on. Let’s get back to the others.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  The Final Battle

  The battle was not going in Katerina’s favor. It had started off well, but that was because they’d had the advantage of surprise. But now the Tuatha guards had split up, taking charge of small groups of fey, leading them into the fight. They were keeping the fey organized, making sure they didn’t scatter.

  Katerina wasn’t sure how many had died on her side. Lots. She knew that. But what was she supposed to do? Sit back while Will and the others fought Kelindria on their own? This was as much her fight as it was William’s and Emily’s. More, as this wasn’t even their time. If they were willing to die for the cause, then so was she.

  Katerina had always felt she was destined for something like this. All her life she had looked out for the little person.

  Had spoken for those who didn’t have a voice. It was why all the street children had flocked to her. They trusted her. Believed she wouldn’t let them down. And she wouldn’t. If they could somehow stop the fey from destroying London, then the sacrifice would be worth it. Think how many lives would be saved.

  “To me!” she shouted. Her beleaguered followers, scattered around the field of battle, turned and ran in her direction. Her heart thudded painfully when she saw how few they were. Only about thirty or so out of how many? Over a hundred. Puck was there, urging everyone back to her. She had to admit, it had been a surprise to see him fighting by her side. After the stories she had heard from Corrigan, she wasn’t sure what to think of him. But it seemed he was still loyal to the cause.

  She caught sight of Jack and Wren. Even Corrigan. They must have heard the battle and come out to help. The three of them hurried toward her.

  “Have you seen Emily and Will?” asked Jack. His face was covered in a spatter of blood. She wasn’t sure if it was his or someone else’s. Even Wren had picked up a weapon. It wasn’t hard to find one. They were all over, dropped by her fallen comrades.

  “They went that way,” she said, pointing to the north.

  Jack and Wren exchanged grim looks.

  “What?”

  “We think they’ve gone to wake the Raven King.”

  Katerina’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Really? Then all that stuff is true?”

  “According to Merlin, yes.”

  “Merlin? Ah, the old man,” said Katerina. “So Emily was successful in her quest as well.”

  Her followers had all gathered around her. “Form a line,” she shouted. They obeyed her instantly, forming into a neat line that was nowhere near as long as she wanted it to be. The fey gathered before her, their numbers disheartening to see. It had all started off so well!

  The fey line parted to allow an old crone and the Crimson Knight to move forward.

  “Who is that?” she whispered to Jack.

  “Kelindria. The new Faerie Queen.”

  “Titania’s gone?” asked Katerina, surprised.

  “Deposed, I think, is the correct term,” said Wren.

  “Lay down your weapons,” called Kelindria. “And no harm will befall you.”

  Katerina chuckled. She couldn’t help it. “You hear that, people? No harm will befall us. What do you say? Should we lay down our arms?”

  A roar of anger swept through their line. Katerina smiled at Kelindria. “There’s your answer,” she called.

  “Surely you know you are all dead if you do not? The Fire King will sweep through here and reduce your bones to ashes.”

  The Faerie Queen seemed to notice something for the first time. Her eyes swept along the line. “Where are the girl and her brother?” She stepped forward, the Crimson Knight keeping pace to protect her. In the background, Katerina could see the shadowy forms of two of his hounds. They would be hard to kill. She was sure she still had her witchbane dagger stashed somewhere ab
out her person. Her hands slid to her belt. Better to have it at hand.

  “They’re not here!” screamed the Queen. She whirled around to the knight. “Find them!”

  The Crimson Knight swept away from Kelindria’s side, heading toward the White Tower. The two hounds padded after him. At least that put them out of the fight, thought Katerina. Made things easier on them.

  The dogs loped ahead of the knight, muzzles close to the ground. As they drew close to the tower, they stopped and erupted into a frenzy of barking, running off in the direction Emily and William had taken.

  Kelindria smiled as she turned back to face them. “There we go. They will not escape. Not this time.” She fished something from her pocket and dropped it to the ground. Katerina craned her neck forward to see. It looked like some kind of stone. But as she watched, it cracked open and a fiery lizard crawled out of it. Not a stone. An egg.

  “Attend me,” said Kelindria.

  Katerina’s attention was drawn to the flames that had been burning steadily along the west wall of the tower enclosure. The fire flared even higher, and then a figure stepped out of the flames, a figure well over twenty feet tall. It climbed easily over the walls and stalked toward them, leaving flaming footprints in its wake.

  The Fire King approached.

  Kelindria turned and hurried toward the terrible creature. As it drew near, it shrank down until it was the size of a tall man. He and Kelindria spoke briefly, then the Fire King turned and followed the Crimson Knight.

  Kelindria returned to her line and smiled, a terrible, cruel smile in an ancient, withered face.

  “As soon as your little friends turn up, the key will be mine. And then …Well, and then the Fire King will embrace them both.” She studied their faces. “Oh, don’t look so upset. You won’t even know about it. Because you’ll all be kissing the mud. Tuatha! Attack!”

  On her command, the lines of fey started running toward them. Katerina and her gang were outnumbered almost four to one, but still she raised her sword into the air.

  Her comrades did the same. “For London!” she screamed.