those lights without engines,’ whispered Ryan, as all about them Nibbles’ men bustled, barely looking at the new arrivals. ‘Give them a few wheels and they’re good to go.’
‘Stop it!’ giggled Daisy. ‘You’ll get us into trouble.’
‘Silence!’ shouted Nibbles, rounding on them angrily. ‘You may not have your tongues for much longer, so use zem sparingly.’
With that thought in mind, as Nibbles led them into the largest of the tents that bordered the clearing, Ryan and Daisy stuck their tongues out behind his back.
The inside of the tent was oddly furnished, with straw and wood shavings covering the floor and an oddly shaped chair behind a low desk in the centre. A few pieces of communications equipment and small arms were scattered around the place, while in one corner stood a drinks cabinet, which Captain Nibbles went straight over to and began helping himself to a bottle of brandy.
Much to their amusement, rather than pouring himself a glass, the giant hamster drank from the bottle. It was fitted with a delivery cap he had to push with his tongue, just like those they had seen in pet shops back home. Daisy and Ryan stood, hands bound, and did their utmost not to fall into hysterics at the spectacle. But Captain Nibbles sensed their mirth. He stopped and glared at them.
‘I’m sorry,’ he squeaked. ‘Vere are my manners? Please, take a seat.’
The two prisoners looked at one another. A moment later they were both struck in the back by a couple of guards and sent sprawling face first onto the ground. Spitting out pieces of straw, they were hauled back onto their knees by rough claws grabbing them by their clothes and hair. Daisy let out a squeal as she was pulled so hard that a large clump of her hair came away in the hamster’s paw.
Ryan threw a look of loathing at Captain Nibbles.
‘You’ll pay for that, you filthy rodent,’ he snarled.
Nibbles merely chuckled and downed the rest of the brandy.
‘I’m sure I shall,’ he sneered, weighing up the bottle in his hand, before hurling it at Ryan. Daisy squealed again as it caught him in the solar plexus, and it was only the generous layer of insulation Ryan carried on his person that prevented him from being totally winded.
Still, he made the most of it and doubled over, sensing that the situation had progressed beyond a game. When he was eventually pulled upright, Nibbles was sitting in his chair, leaning forwards with his two short front legs on the table. His small black eyes flicked from one prisoner to the other, while his furry features were filled with revulsion and scorn.
‘I trust I have your full attention now,’ he said slowly, his accent no longer drawing any amusement from the captives. ‘Maybe now you understand zat it is right to fear Captain Nibbles and zat insolence vill not be tolerated. Ve pride ourselves on using only ze finest methods of torture to extract information from our prisoners, so you vould do vell to cooperate from now on. Am I understood?’
Ryan nodded sullenly and looked over at Daisy, who nodded too.
‘Good. You vill find me a most benevolent host if you behave and tell me all I vont to know. If you choose not to, zen I’ll say again; your time here vill be most unpleasant. So, tell me about your friend; ze vun who attacked my men and stole a motorbike from us. Who is he? And vere is he going? He must be made to pay for his crimes.’
Blimey, thought Ryan. Billy’s wasted no time. Fair play to him.
He looked across at Daisy and shook his head. She looked wide-eyed and fearful; a ghost of the Daisy Rose he knew. He wanted to embrace her; to hold her and tell her everything was going to be all right, so that the true Daisy would return. He suddenly realised what an anchor of happiness she had become to him; unwaveringly cheerful and upbeat. Without her smile the world seemed a desolate place and he felt alone, even though in body she was there with him.
Ryan had watched plenty of war films and played enough games to give him an idea of what to expect from an interrogation, but, despite knowing it was all a dream, finding himself in such a situation was more alarming than he had ever imagined. It was strange to think that only a few moments before he had been poking fun at all that was going on around him. Now he was gripped in a conflict between instinct and nature. One side wanted him to tell all and save his own skin, while the other detested authority figures and wished to thwart them at every turn.
He turned back to Nibbles, glowering defiantly.
‘Vell?’ asked the hamster.
Ryan shrugged as nonchalantly as he could. Captain Nibbles gave a wicked chuckle.
‘So, it’s like zat, is it?’ he sneered, getting to his feet. ‘I take it you did not enjoy zat last drink? You know, I have a single malt in here zat might be more to your tastes. It goes straight to your head and as soon as it hits you it just knocks you right out. If you’re lucky.’
He grabbed another bottle and started throwing it from paw to paw, getting a feel for its weight.
‘No, please,’ cried Daisy.
‘Dizz…’
‘No Ryan, I won’t let him do it. I’m sure Tristram’s far away from here by now.’
‘Tristram? I thought he was talking about…’
Ryan stopped, but the expression on Nibble’s face revealed that he’d already said too much.
‘How interesting,’ he drawled. ‘It is as I suspected; ve have two fugitives to be looking out for, comrades.’
Ryan shook his head.
‘No, no, I was getting confused. You were talking about Tristram, yes? Tall bloke, black hair? Good looking in a way that makes you want to punch him in the face every time he looks at you?’
Nibbles gave a slight frown and considered Ryan with his head slightly to one side.
‘Yes,’ he said, drawing out the word a little longer than was really necessary. ‘But I am also curious about ze blond-haired boy you vere seen vith earlier. Are you saying you do not know zis boy?’
Ryan sagged and gave Daisy a defeated look. A moment later something hit him in the temple and the lights went out.
When he opened his eyes he felt dazed and confused about where he was – even more so than the average person who’s taken a bottle of Scotch to the side of the head. For several moments he couldn’t work out whether he had woken up fully or if he was still dreaming. The sound of a voice sobbing quietly next to him revealed that it was the latter. He looked to his left and saw Daisy Rose sitting next to him with her head in her hands, which were still bound together. He looked around to see if there was anyone else with them, and when he discovered there wasn’t he rolled over and placed his hands on her knee. She recoiled as if she had been mourning the death of a loved one who had suddenly come back to life.
Her eyes were red, but on seeing him awake she immediately brightened up.
‘Oh Ryan, you’re okay!’ she exclaimed.
‘Well I don’t know about that,’ he said groggily. ‘I’ve felt better, I can tell you!’
‘No, but you’re alive.’
‘Yes, about one step up, but it’s enough. Where are we?’
‘In another tent,’ said Daisy. ‘They took us straight here after they knocked you out. I was in such a state seeing you lying there that they knew they would get nothing useful out of me. Oh Ryan! What are we doing here? This is way beyond us. We should be back at the Academy practising Morphing like all the others.’
Ryan reached out and took her hands in his.
‘Dizz, it’s okay. I’m okay, you’re okay; everything’s fine. Look, we’ve told them everything we know so there’s nothing more we can do. We’ve just got to wait for the story to unfold.’
‘I think we should get out of here. I want to wake up and leave this place behind. Tristram will take care of the others, I’m sure of it.’
‘How do we do that?’ asked Ryan. ‘I don’t think I can just wake up on demand. If I could, I think that bottle would have done it for me.’
‘We could Dreamweave until we do,’ suggested Daisy. ‘You know; until our bodies run out of energy and force us to wake up?’
All of a sudden a voice from the other side of the tent fabric chimed in.
‘If you two have quite finished feeling sorry for yourselves, how about we all get out of here together?’
‘Billy?’ whispered Daisy, who was as startled as Ryan to hear his voice.
‘No, it’s the Pope. Now, are you ready to make a run for it?’
Ryan looked at Daisy, who had cheered up no end. She gave him a broad smile and nodded.
‘Our hands and feet are tied,’ he said.
‘Well, pretend they’re stuck through a doughnut and eat your way through them,’ said Billy impatiently.
‘It’s funny you should say that,’ grinned Ryan, back to his old self again. ‘Come on Bamb… I mean Billy. Help us out here.’
‘Watch it, Butler.’
Suddenly the blade of a knife burst through the fabric of the tent alarmingly close to Daisy’s head. She let out a small yelp and instinctively recoiled from it, then covered her mouth when she realised what she had done. The knife withdrew immediately and there were several moments of anxious silence while they waited to see if their captors had noticed.
‘Everything all right in there?’ hissed Billy, when it seemed the danger had passed. ‘You okay Daisy?’
‘Yes, I’m fine.’
Two fingers slid through the slot in the fabric and Billy’s eye appeared between them.
‘Get away from the side of the tent then,’ he said.
They shuffled awkwardly to one side while he finished
Dreamweavers: Awakening Page 40