The Devil in Green

by Mark Chadbourn

  Sophie heard the sound of his boots and turned. The smile was there, as he had hoped. He gave a curt wave - no point in being too out of character - and held up the box to signify his success.

  Her smile faded; a shadow fell across her face. A shadow fell across him.

  It felt like a car slamming into him. His breath rushed out, the box went flying, he hit the ground, saw stars, skidded, somehow pulled his senses back from the brink.

  The Hipgrave-thing raced towards Sophie, a black cloud sweeping across an unblemished sky. Mallory didn’t stall, didn’t think; he was moving instantly, sword unsheathed, blue glow on snow, driving forwards. The tearing-silk sound destroyed the dawn stillness. It was more thing now than Hipgrave: insect arms becoming slashing swords becoming a cloud of snapping mouths becoming something that made his stomach heave; his mind just wouldn’t fix on one shape.

  He found energy where he thought he had none; the distance between them shortened rapidly. But it was not enough. He saw in frozen instants: Sophie looking up; a true shadow falling over her; her arm rising in feeble protection; her mouth opening, an exclamation or a scream, he wasn’t sure; the Hipgrave-thing smashing down.

  And as quickly as it had been there, it was gone, moving out across the compound to new territories, a storm, nothing more, a force of nature that came from beyond nature. And Mallory ran, and dropped to his knees beside her, but it was too late. Clearly, too late. A pool of blood flooded out, staining the snow in a widening arc. Her eyes were wide and fixed. She was already gone.

  In that instant, he reached the extremes of human feeling; the acuity of the sensation almost destroyed him. One thought flickered briefly across the tempest: what was the point? Why did humanity exist at all?

  ‘When you pass through this door, everything changes.’

  Mallory sprinted through the foot-deep snow, clutching the box to his chest. Sophie heard the sound of his boots and turned. He gave a curt wave - no point in being too out of character - and held up the box to signify his success. But the smile wasn’t there as he had hoped.

  ‘He’s gone, Mallory.’

  He followed her gaze down to Miller’s still form. The face was as white as the surrounding snow, the cheeks and eye sockets so hollow that it didn’t look like Miller at all. In a rush, Mallory remembered dragging Miller into the car as the monkey-creatures attacked them on the approach to Salisbury; recalled searching for him on Salisbury Plain when it would have been easier to leave him to die. The Chinese believed if you saved somebody’s life you were responsible for it from then on; and he had saved Miller twice, but the third time, when Miller had really needed it, had pleaded with him from the pits of his soul, Mallory had given up on his responsibility. Mallory might as well have killed him himself.

  What was the point …

  ‘When you pass through this door, everything changes.’

  Mallory sprinted through the foot-deep snow, clutching the box to his chest. Sophie heard the sound of his boots and turned. The smile was there, as he had hoped. He gave a curt wave - no point in being too out of character - and held up the box to signify his success.

  The Hipgrave-thing raced towards Sophie, but Mallory had already dodged out of its path when the shadow fell across him. He was close enough to swing his sword; even such a powerful blade was not strong enough to kill the shifting creature, but it hurt it badly. There was a screech that made his ears hurt, and it turned on him. He saw movement and darkness and a glimpse of the man he had once known, and then it fell on him. Its first attack sliced deep into his shoulder blade, but after that burst of pain the rest became a wash of nothing. He saw the sky, pink and purple, dark at the extremes, and he saw Sophie, her face so beautiful, so torn with emotion, and then he fell backwards into the white, and further backwards into the dark, finally warm, finally rested …

  The Caretaker was standing beside him. ‘He waits,’ he said, pointing to a solitary figure standing dark against the thick snow. The emotion carried with the hooded figure that had haunted him for so long was no longer threatening but so potently desolate that it ignited a deep dread in Mallory. He wanted to run anywhere so he didn’t have to face that thing and what it represented.

  ‘You know it?’ the Caretaker said.

  ‘I know it.’ Mallory’s voice broke.

  ‘There is no more running,’ the Caretaker said. ‘Go to it.’

  His legs felt like stone, but somehow he found himself walking towards it; he knew with a sickening fatalism that there was no escape from something like that.

  The figure stood, unmoving, arms at its sides, its features lost in the thick shadows of the hood. Mallory approached it as if walking to the gallows, unaware of the movement of his legs, the sound of the crunching snow, the cold wind against his face.

  He stopped in front of it. A shiver that was not from the cold ran through him. He was in a daze, lost to the sucking shadows that covered its face; but his subconscious knew exactly what he had to do. Trembling, he slowly brought his hands up to grip the hood. Then he pushed it back.

  It was his face, a true face, an inner face, ashen, with black, black eyes that looked at him as if it was pleading with him to put it out of its misery. But it was not him, just a spirit of place that had taken on a sense of him; an echo; a reminder. He couldn’t outrun it, couldn’t ever leave it behind.

  Hot tears burned paths down Mallory’s cheeks. Here it was, then.

  Over to his right there was a sound like thunder and the stone door with the carved surround stood there incongruously in the snow with no walls to support it. Lightning danced around its edges; the thunder rolled out from it repeatedly.

  One more door to pass through.

  It was dark and he had a gun. He hated guns, but really, he had no choice. The barrel bit into his temple. How do you do these things? he thought. No one ever tells you, so you go with the movie version. What’s to stop you ending up like one of those freaks they used to feature in the Sunday Sport, with half their face missing, not able to talk, but with their brain as active as ever. Wouldn’t that be hell? But what did he care about hell? It didn’t exist. No hell, no heaven, nowhere better and you couldn’t get much worse, no chance to put things right, no going back, and now no going forwards.

  But Sylvie would get the money and Jemas would get everything he needed to do Stevens. That was the best he could do, and it didn’t come anywhere near to wiping out the debt of what he had done. But it was the best he could do, and he had no choice. He pulled the trigger.

  The burst of fire was like the breath of a Fabulous Beast in the dark, filled with purifying flame. It imprinted on his mind and there it was, high over the city, high over London, destroying the Tower of London, destroying all the corruption and the filth and everything that was bad about this life. And you know, he thought, it looks like a better world.

  ‘Take my hand.’

  The Caretaker gripped Mallory’s wrists tightly; all around was darkness. ‘You have a choice,’ he intoned gravely.

  Mallory didn’t have to think. ‘I want Sophie … I want a chance to put things right … to be who I could be. I want a better world.’ The Caretaker nodded slowly. ‘Very well.’

  He breathed a lung-full of cold air as if it was the first breath he had ever taken. Every sense was heightened: the snow so bright it was almost blinding, the dazzling colours in the dawn sky, the smell of woodsmoke on the wind; and the crunch of snow behind him, like explosions drawing nearer. He whirled, sword singing as it leaped from the sheath; the blue glow from the blade gave him comfort, helped to focus his mind.

  The Hipgrave-thing swept across the lawns from the cathedral like fury, like rage and hate and bitterness. Mallory saw eyes and teeth and wings and claws. He swung the sword with the full force of his strength, felt the vibrations slam into his shoulders as the weapon smashed into the monstrous force. The blade bit deep but didn’t slow the thing’s progress.

  It powered into Mallory, sent him flying head over h
eels. He skidded in the snow, rolled and came up on his feet, winded and dazed but still ready.

  This time he side-stepped and struck at the same time. A chunk of something flew through the air and landed in the snow, sizzling.

  Teeth-rattling sounds were coming off the Hipgrave-thing, screeches that flew off the register and deep bass rumbles, each one triggering a specific emotion - fear and horror and despair. Mallory fought them down, hacked again.

  With each strike, the thing became even more furious, its reactions faster, its strength greater; it was obvious to Mallory that he couldn’t beat it, couldn’t even hold it back for much longer.

  On the next sweep, it was impossible to get out of the way. He felt a rib snap; pain flared up one side. He flew backwards, crashed to the ground, lost consciousness.

  When he awoke, the Hipgrave-thing was rising above him like a tidal wave of oil. A bone-numbing cold radiated out over him.

  Mallory turned his head and yelled to Sophie, who was watching, horrified. ‘Call him!’

  She realised instantly what he meant, though the panic that crossed her face showed that she knew it was already too late. She bowed her head, began to mutter.

  Mallory fumbled for the sword and held it ready to ram into the thing when it came down, hoping he could do at least some damage, to save Sophie with his dying stroke.

  The crash of the gates falling signified that Sophie didn’t have to call out; the powers had been watching. The Hipgrave-thing was wavering, distracted, as if it sensed something Mallory couldn’t. Through the broken gates came a tremendous flood of bodies: the pale-skinned, black-eyed army of little people, moving hastily as if fearful of the coming light, and like a stallion amongst them was Old Shuck with its gleaming red eyes.

  The Hipgrave-thing pulled away from Mallory, who was now the lesser threat. Its attention was fixed on Old Shuck, which had broken away from the swarming little people and was moving ominously towards Mallory.

  Everything was like a dream, hazy, fractured, sometimes moving too fast, sometimes in slow motion. The little people appeared to be scattering something across the cathedral compound. Soon after, there was a rumbling in the ground as of some great beast stirring. Green shoots burst through the snow, sprouted, prospered, became creeping strands of ivy, saplings, bushes, flowers. The ivy soared up the walls of the cathedral, beginning to smother the lower storeys of the other buildings.

  The Hipgrave-thing was hypnotised by the activity. Mallory saw his moment. Despite the pain flooding his side, he pulled himself to his feet and moved behind the creature. With the last of his energy, he heaved the sword over his head and thrust it so hard into the thing’s back it burst out through its chest.

  It trembled for a moment, the sensations taking their time to reach whatever passed for a mind within it. Then it crashed to the ground like a falling tree. It was clear that even then Mallory had not delivered a killing stroke, for it writhed and thrashed, screeching insanely.

  Mallory scrambled backwards, found Sophie, her arms going around him easily. He dropped down into her lap, watching what would happen next, too weak to play any part.

  Old Shuck advanced until it was close to the Hipgrave-thing. It bent forwards, peering with those flaming eyes as though it could see into the creature’s head. Mallory had a sense that on some level communication was taking place. Whatever had happened, the Hipgrave-thing slowed its wild movements as though sedated.

  The little people swarmed around, lashing ropes with the thickness and strength of wire across the beast. Within minutes, it was completely caught. The strain of the ropes was taken by a hundred small hands, and with great effort, the Hipgrave-thing was hauled gradually towards the gates, Old Shuck keeping pace, never taking its red eyes away. Left behind in the snow was a desiccated husk that had once been Hipgrave; and it was missing one hand.

  When the cathedral compound was finally deserted, Mallory and Sophie felt as if they had awoken from a strange dream. She looked into his face, her smile wiping away the strain and worry. ‘You did it,’ she said, brushing the hair from his forehead. ‘Not bad for a man with a penis substitute.’

  He tried to lever himself up, but the flaring pain in his side sent him crashing back down. ‘Broken rib,’ he said weakly.

  ‘Don’t worry - we can sort that out. A few herbs, something really foul and disgusting to drink … back on your feet in no time.’

  He rolled his head to see Miller, who lay like death next to them. ‘How is he?’ he asked. The guilt rose in him again; he knew he would never be able to forgive himself for this.

  Sophie felt the pulse in Miller’s neck. ‘Nearly gone, I think,’ she said sadly. ‘I liked him. He was decent.’

  They were disturbed by a strange, melodic fluting. It drifted through the thick vegetation that now covered the compound, haunting and oddly unearthly. They eventually located the source: sitting amongst a copse of young trees, almost lost against the pattern of leaves and branches, was the Green Man, trilling gently on a set of pan-pipes.

  Mallory and Sophie listened to his music for five minutes, strangely comforted, but then he stopped and said, ‘You have redeemed your people.’

  ‘They’re not my people,’ Mallory said.

  ‘No. But you have redeemed them.’ The Green Man rose and walked towards them, shoots wriggling through the snow wherever his feet fell. ‘This was my place, long before the Church came,’ he said. 7 can share it, for its power should be available to all.’ The implication in his words was clear.

  ‘You’ve won,’ Mallory said.

  ‘There is no victory here, only grief, and pain, and destruction.’ His voice sounded like the wind through the trees, and despite the cold of the morning, Mallory and Sophie felt as though they were basking in the warmth of a summer’s day. ‘Now is the time for new shoots,’ he continued, ‘for hope and growth, for all living things to thrive as they are infused with the mysteries of Existence.’

  ‘The creature … the creature that was Hipgrave …‘Mallory couldn’t find the voice to continue; the pain had put him on the edge of blacking out.

  ‘There are things beyond this place that occasionally pay an interest in your world. It is best not to discuss them.’ He stared towards the dawn, his eyes reflecting the morning light. ‘But something has stirred beyond the lip of the universe and it has noticed you … something so terrible that even the Golden Ones fear it.’ He looked to Mallory and Sophie sombrely. ‘And it is coming this way.’

  Sophie shivered. ‘That thing—’

  ‘It is an outrider, a scout, the merest thing compared to what it serves … lying here since this place was newly formed. In recent times, it was awakened.’ A robin alighted on his shoulder; he watched it askance with a touching warmth. ‘It was mindless, easily manipulated. It could not be allowed to abide, and so—’

  ‘You used it,’ Sophie said, ‘controlled it. And now—’

  ‘Now it will be destroyed. But that is not the end of it.’ He waved his hand as if to wipe away all talk of dark things. ‘The darkest time of year has passed. Now we look to the light.’ He stooped down and plucked the box from where Mallory had dropped it. He smiled as the blue light flooded out and the tiny Fabulous Beast wriggled into the palm of his hand. ‘Is it not wonderful?’ he said. ‘Is this not something that should be raised up to bring warmth into all hearts?’

  ‘It’s dying,’ Mallory managed.

  The Green Man squatted down next to them. ‘It is beyond that. It is life. It is a part of Existence itself.’ He looked from Mallory to Sophie and in his vegetative face they saw something powerful and moving. ‘Hope, Brother and Sister of Dragons. Hope and life.’

  He pressed his face close to the Fabulous Beast, then leaned over and threw the blankets off Miller before carefully laying the creature on the still form’s belly. Mallory and Sophie watched in puzzlement. The brilliant blue glow began to pulse, gradually at first but then with increasing speed, growing brighter all the time until they ha
d to shield their eyes. When it reached a peak, the tiny black shape at the heart of the glare appeared to be melting. A few seconds later, Mallory realised that this was not the case: it looked as if it was sinking into Miller’s belly. When the last of the dark smudge disappeared, the light winked out and all was as it had been. There was no sign of the Fabulous Beast.

  The Green Man had retreated to the nearest copse, and when he spoke his voice was rich and florid; he was smiling warmly. ‘We shall meet again when there are five of you. And then, once again, the Brothers and Sisters of Dragons shall stand shoulder to shoulder with the Golden Ones in the name of Existence.’ And then he was gone, swallowed up by the vegetation as if he had simply allowed his essence to dissipate amongst it.

  Mallory and Sophie were transfixed until the sound of rustling disturbed them. Miller was sitting up, puzzling as to why he had been lying in the snow. His cheeks were full, his skin pink with the flush of contentment.

  He looked from one to the other, then said, even more puzzled, ‘Why are you crying?’

  EPILOGUE

  beautiful day

  ‘If you see things as they are here and now, you have seen everything that has happened from all eternity. All things are interrelated Oneness.’

  - Marcus Aurelius

  The Christmas bells rang out across Salisbury, lying sedate and gleaming beneath a thick covering of snow. The sky was a brilliant blue and the sun shone brightly. In the cathedral, the brothers gathered to give praise to their saviour. Many were too weak to stand, but after Mallory had arranged for rations to be brought in from the city, they had at least pulled back from the brink.

  Compared with the massed ranks that had greeted Mallory and Miller on their arrival, the congregation was small. Some had died; many had simply wandered away, their faith broken. But the biggest departure had been the followers of Stefan, who had gone off to maintain their strict creed elsewhere, away from the corruption of sinners.