Ancient Appetites

by Oisin McGann

  He gently ushered the two men out of the room, closing the door behind him. Daisy let out a shuddering breath and put her head in her hands. She couldn't take much more of this. Beyond the door she could just hear the men's voices:

  'You're the Duke's brother?' the Viceroy exclaimed incredulously. 'How have we never met? He's never even spoken of you!'

  'A family tiff that has lasted years, I'm afraid,' Hugo informed him. 'He called for me when he fell ill…'

  Daisy lifted her head and gave a start as she found a tall black man standing in front of her. She stared up at him for a moment, wondering how he had got there.

  'Abraham, isn't it?' she said. 'What are you doing here?'

  'It's time to leave, ma'am,' he replied. 'Master Nathaniel has asked us to take you to safety. The chief groom has a carriage waiting for you and your husband at the back entrance. Your husband assures us Mr Hennessy can be trusted.'

  'Oh, I'm sure he does,' she said acidly.

  XXXII

  TOO WELL-ARMED FOR TEA

  Tatiana peered out of her bedroom window at the company of British cavalry, complete with a behemoth war engimal, approaching the front of the house. They were being led by the Lord Lieutenant's carriage. Striding across the room, she swung the door open and confronted the two Gideonettes standing guard outside.

  'Why is the British Army coming up the driveway?' she demanded.

  They hurried to the window and looked out. She was pleased to see that they appeared concerned by what they saw.

  'It's nothing,' one said in an unconvincing voice.

  'Just a social visit,' the other said, swallowing audibly.

  'They seem to me to be a bit too well-armed for morning tea,' Tatty observed.

  That was when they heard the sound. It was like an angry bee at first, then deeper, like the growling of a big cat. And it was getting louder. Her two cousins drew their pistols and held them up. Tatty cocked her head to one side, listening intently. She recognized the sound.

  'It's Nathaniel's velocycle,' one of her guards said. 'He's in the house; come to save his precious little sister at last. We'll have him now. Must be in the hidden passageways somewhere.'

  'It can't be.' The other shook his head. 'A beast that size could never fit in the passages. How could it turn the corners?'

  'It's the velocycle, I tell you,' the first one insisted. 'He's going to try and just charge in and take her, the confounded fool!'

  They leaned out into the corridor, revolvers at the ready. Tatty walked behind a screen in her room and started to undress, peeking through the cracks in the hinges to keep a weather eye on her two sentries.

  'My big brother's coming!' she called to them as she shrugged the dress off her shoulders. 'You're in trouble now!'

  'Shut up!' one of them shouted back; then to his own brother, 'There! Behind the oak panels – he's in the south passage!'

  They sprinted down the corridor, following the sound of Flash's engine. Near the end of a row of oak panels, they pressed a knot and a secret door sprang open. The engine sounds grew suddenly louder. With their guns raised, they made ready to fire at the figure within.

  'Thank God!' Gerald cried out. 'I thought I'd be lost in there for days!'

  That was when Nathaniel came out of the room behind them and, with vicious speed, struck each one over the back of the head with his revolver. Gerald stepped out and handed the small engimal with the ladybird spots to Nate, who quietened it with a word. The engine sounds stopped.

  'A marvellous contraption,' Gerald remarked. 'You'll have to let me dissect it some day.'

  'You have no soul,' Nate sniped back. 'I'd never let you get your grubby mits on Babylon.'

  'I should hope not!'

  They turned to find Tatiana standing waiting for them, dressed once again in Nate's old clothes. Nate smiled proudly.

  'Good God,' said Gerald.

  'This whole sorry affair has opened my eyes,' Tatiana informed them as she handed them some curtain cord. 'I've decided I want to devote my life to the furthering of women's rights.'

  'This,' said Gerald, 'is what comes of letting women wear trousers.'

  Using the curtain cord, they quickly bound and gagged the Gideonettes and threw them into a cupboard where they would not be found for some time. Then they made their way through the hidden passageway down to Gerald's rooms. Roberto had already been stolen away by Abraham and his brothers and Edgar's corpse had been taken to the refrigerators. Only Clancy and Brutus remained. The giant ancestor lay there in his bed, the occasional twitch in his face and hands showing the slow surfacing of his consciousness.

  Standing near the door was Flash, and tied up next to it was the boy who worked the elevator.

  'I wouldn't've squealed,' he protested.

  'Sorry, we couldn't take the chance,' Nate told him, urging Tatty to get on the velocycle. 'Ger, you sure you want to stay? It's going to get a bit hairy.'

  'I want to make sure Clancy is stable before I move him; and besides, I need to pack up a few things,' Gerald replied. 'My work's too important to leave in the hands of these luddites.'

  'Right, then,' Nate said, shaking his cousin's hand. 'Good luck.'

  'And you, old chum.'

  Nate climbed into the saddle and tapped the engimal's sides with his heels. The velocycle purred quietly as they rolled out of the door and down towards the elevator halfway down the corridor. The doors had been jammed open to keep the lift car where it was, but as they crept down the hallway towards it, Brunhilde came round the corner at the far end of the corridor with three footmen. They were all armed with pistols and double-barrelled shotguns.

  'Bugger,' Nate swore, seeing that they couldn't make it to the elevator without being shot. 'We'll have to take the stairs.'

  There was no need to be quiet any longer. Swinging Flash round in a circle, Nate steered his mount down a side corridor, Tatty clinging on tightly as the velocycles engine rose into a joyous roar. Leaping forward, they covered the twenty yards to the end of the hallway in seconds, swerving at the top of the landing between the staircases and plunging down the steps towards the next floor. Flash made the tight turn, swinging its back wheel round with a deft flick of its hips, and down again they went, the two riders rattled by the bouncing of Flash's wheels over the steps. The noise of its engine was loud in the stairwell, but Nate revelled in the sheer power of it and roared in unison.

  They made it down two more flights before a shotgun blast nearly caught them, taking chunks out of the wall above their heads. Brunhilde had taken the elevator to a floor below them and was coming up the stairs towards them with some of her men.

  'Shed light on their insides!' she screamed, opening the smoking gun to reload.

  Nate wondered momentarily where she had learned to use a scattergun, but he was already turning the velocycle, its spinning wheels burning scars across the carpet as they skidded off the landing and down the hallway.

  'We need to make it to the stairs on the other side!' he yelled to his sister over the bellowing engine. 'I think we can take a short cut through the dining room!'

  Tatty nodded in agreement as Nate turned in a wide doorway and through an anteroom into the massive dining room. Footmen were running down towards them on either side of the long dining table, but Nate jumped Flash up onto the tabletop, knocking candlesticks and vases of flowers flying as they raced down its length and flew off the end, leaving a trail of burned French polish. As soon as its feet touched the floor, Flash was turned out of another door, on through an unused hall to the corridor beyond, which led to the stairs on the other side of the tower.

  Rattling down another few flights, they found their way blocked by a barricade of furniture, and Nate only just lifted the front wheel in time before they careered straight into it. Flash half rammed, half climbed over the pile of wood, sending the defending footmen running for cover. But as it landed, Nate was unable to turn his engimal in time, and they spun into a suit of armour in a corner of the landi
ng with a crash of metal, sending pieces of it everywhere. Seizing the arrowhead-shaped shield – a gauntlet still dangling from it – Nate got Flash back on its feet and only barely deflected the pistol shots fired at them as they took off down the corridor.

  'The other side again?' Tatty asked expectantly.

  'I suppose so,' he sighed, throwing the shield away.

  They passed through one deserted hall after another, cutting across the building. Every now and then Nate slowed and looked out of the windows, hoping for another exit.

  'I had no idea so much of the house was unused,' Tatty noted. 'It seems such a waste.'

  'Perhaps we'll deal with that when we come back,' Nate replied, steering them down another corridor.

  The family would be using the speaking tubes and elevators to pen them in. The servants would be converging on them from top and bottom. They had to get out of the house… quickly. Two more flights of stairs brought them to the fourth floor. Nate skidded to a halt, breathing hard and thinking fast. Turning a corner, he saw a window at the end of the corridor. He pulled off his jacket and threw it over Tatiana's head and shoulders. He hoped it would be enough.

  'Keep your head down and hold on tight,' he said to her. Then, to Flash, he added. 'This is it… Don't fail me now.'

  The velocycle responded with a thrilled growl and they accelerated forward, the carpet wrinkling under the grip of the wheels as they drove the beast on. Nate lowered his head and screamed as Flash hurled them through the window.

  Broken wood and glass cut gashes in his face, neck and hands as they exploded out of the building. They landed with a brittle thud on one side of the gabled roof of the south wing, sloughing slate tiles away beneath their spinning wheels as they slid down the slope, the old roof barely supporting the velocycle's weight. They were going too fast to stop and they hurtled towards the edge… Nate pulling back to lift Flash's front wheel as they slipped off in a shower of slate and glass and splintered wood, falling, falling, until they hit the roof of the stables and Flash's back wheel punched through, jarring the two riders to the bone as they came to an abrupt stop.

  'Come on, come on!' Nate screeched, struggling to free the velocycle.

  Tatiana pushed down with her feet too but it was useless. The roof collapsed inwards, sending them tumbling into the building. They plunged through the hay store on the first floor, which slowed their fall before the boards gave way under Flash's plummeting weight and they crashed through to the ground. Tatiana screamed as she landed heavily on her side. Nate had the breath knocked out of him and hit his head against a broken rafter.

  The grooms hurried to the scene, standing uncertainly, reluctant to lay hands on this man who had once been one of their masters. Nate rose from the wreckage of wood and hay, bloodied and covered in dust.

  'Get out of my way' he snarled. And they did.

  Pulling the velocycle onto its feet, he picked up his sister and helped her onto the saddle behind him. The engimal shook itself and snorted steam and then it reared, its back wheel grinding smoke off the ground. They lunged forward, out of the stable doors and round the house towards the front gate. The speeding shape raced across the grass, through the company of cavalry, startling horses and raising angry shouts from their riders. The war engimal, a navy-skinned creature the size of a large coach, with six wheels and a triangular head jutting with tusks, looked on dispassionately. It did not move without orders.

  It turned to watch the velocycle skid onto the cobbled driveway, sprint down between the two rows of poplar trees and disappear out of the gate. When it turned back to face the front, what it saw caused it to rise up on its hind wheels with a frightened squeal, throwing its rider. The fearsome war engimal staggered back, swivelled and bolted for the forest at the side of the house. The horses followed it with wide, panicked eyes.

  From around the other side of the house, crushing the cobbles beneath their feet, the ground shaking beneath their great weight, came Trom and Colossus. On the back of the bull-razer, holding the reins, was Slattery, with Elizabeth beside him. Hugo and Brunhilde rode the juggernaut, and from the top of each behemoth, lengths of snake-chain coiled and reached out at the will of their master. And Hugo, wearing his chain mail once more with his suit and top hat, screamed an exultant battle cry as his monsters chased down their prey.

  XXXIII

  THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING PUNCTUAL

  Nate looked back, but could see no signs of pursuit. He wondered how long it would take Hugo to get clear of the Viceroy's soldiers, marshal his own forces and come after the fugitives. Nate just needed time to reach the train station in Kingstown. Abraham would meet him there with Daisy and Roberto so they could make their escape together. He squeezed Tatty's hand where it clung to his waist. He was hoping the British would delay Hugo for a while, but the first moves had been made, at least. He had to time this right. The timing was crucial.

  They had covered more than three miles and were scrambling up a narrow sloping lane when the flock of leaf-lights struck silently and without warning. They swooped into Flash's path and swept across Nate and Tatty, their sharp edges cutting like a hail of glass shards. Thrown out of the saddle, brother and sister landed hard on the ground in a sprawling heap. Nate rolled up onto his feet, then dropped into a crouch to shield Tatty, pulling his jacket over her head again as the engimals came in once more, sweeping over him, raking their blades across his shoulders and back. He cried out, as much in anger as in pain. There seemed no way to fight these elusive creatures. Pulling out his revolver, he fired at them, over and over again, knocking two or three from the air, but there were dozens more and now his gun was empty. He frantically tried to reload before they came back in again, fumbling rounds into the chambers.

  But they were changing tactics. The leaf-lights rolled together as they dived, wrapping into a single long spear-shaped formation that picked up speed as it solidified. Nate dived out of its way at the last moment, only to face it again seconds later as it spun and came at him from the opposite direction. It was only feet from him when Flash reared up on one side, blasting a jet of steam from its nostrils. The leaf-light javelin shot through the gushing, boiling-hot steam, and there was a high-pitched buzzing as the projectile burst into its component parts. The leaf-lights swirled in confused pain. Nate seized his jacket and swung it over them, gathering as many as he could in the material and bunching them together before swinging the thrashing bundle hard against the ground, over and over again until it went still. He jumped on it a few times for good measure.

  The few remaining engimals fluttered up into the air, out of his reach. But just four or five of them could offer no threat. Nate heaved in deep breaths, wincing at the pain from a hundred small cuts. He noted with satisfaction that the older ones were already closing up. His inherited defences were kicking in, his healing accelerated by the adrenaline coursing through his body. His muscles felt charged up from the rush, and despite the pain, a smile split his blood-stained face.

  'That wasn't the act of a slave!' he said fondly to Flash, slapping its side. 'You roasted them! By God, I'll make a warhorse out of you yet!'

  'You're enjoying this,' Tatiana said miserably.

  He didn't answer, picking her up instead and getting into the saddle before helping her on behind him. No sooner had Flash started forward than they heard a sound like a cattle stampede and the ground started to tremble. Smashing through the trees behind him came Colossus, with Hugo and Elizabeth riding on its back. Trom rumbled along not far behind. They could not match Flash's speed, but whereas the velocycle had to work its way round the landscape, the behemoths could trample a line straight through it. Elizabeth's leaf-lights had bought them all the time they needed to catch up.

  High hedges barred the way on either side, so Flash was forced to go uphill. Colossus was driving through walls and hedges to cut them off, while Trom lumbered up from behind. Flash brushed past only an instant before Colossus charged across the laneway. A chain snaked out, its linkmo
uth catching onto Flash's right rear leg and starting to pull the velocycle back. Nate drew his pistol and shot the snake-chain twice in the head, severing it. But another was already locking onto the saddle behind Tatty. It yanked them back as Colossus turned and threatened to pull them under the juggernaut's wheels. Nate couldn't reach round to aim at the chain's head.

  'Hang on!' he yelled.

  There was slight slope on the huge engimal's head – enough for Nate to spin Flash round and, with its wheels spinning wildly, ride the velocycle right up onto the juggernaut's shoulders and over its back. Nate kicked Hugo out of his way, shooting the chain where its tail anchored it to the juggernaut's carapace. Still dragging the rest of the snake-chain after him, he rode down Colossus's tail… and straight out in front of Trom.

  Nate jinked right and the slow-witted engimal followed him, its shovel-shaped jaw digging into the ground and throwing up earth like a sea wave, bearing down on the velocycle and its riders. Nate rode Flash up, tilted almost horizontal along the wave, bursting out at the end of it as Trom's enormous jaw rammed straight into the side of the juggernaut, bringing both behemoths to a juddering halt, chains slapping against their armour like tentacles.

  The behemoth's riders had no chance to use their firearms before Flash and its riders disappeared over the crest of the hill. The snake-chain that was still hanging onto their saddle now coiled up and swung its three yards of tail over the front of the velocycle, wrapping around the riders like a constricting snake, trying to crush the life out of them. Tatty took the pistol from Nate's hand and calmly shot the thing in the head.

  The two fugitives and their mount made it to the small, red-brick train station by the sea with time to spare. The train was still there, its barrel-shaped iron locomotive seeping steam as it sat waiting to depart. They were a strange sight to behold: the Beast of Glenmalure, being ridden along the platform by two bedraggled, bloodstained members of the gentry – one a young woman in men's clothes. Daisy and Abraham, who had been anxiously watching out for them by the door of their train compartment, ran up to greet them.