by A. W. Exley
Elizabeth moved to the centre of her court and stood by the solitary lantern in the fire pit. She tucked her hair back behind her ears and rolled her neck. Then she closed her eyes and bowed her head for a long moment. The moan around us rose in pitch and intensity. It reminded me of when Trusty the motorcycle idled, and a light touch on the throttle made the engine rev higher.
Bit by bit, I circled closer, mesmerised by whatever the queen was doing. Then, her head snapped up and she raised her arms to the ceiling. The sleeves of her dress tumbled down to her elbows and revealed the black veins criss-crossing over her skin, as though black lace encased her forearms. The lethal lines pumped the vermin poison through her body. With her head thrown back, she emitted a soundless cry, but every undead creature in the cavern answered. As though she summoned all the vermin under her control.
Ice water ran through my veins and a sharp chill washed over me. Elizabeth played her last hand and I had no idea what was coming, except that I didn't like the look of it one bit. I needed to reach Seth and give him back his sword. I hacked a path through the vermin. They seemed dazed and slower. Their milky eyes were now completely blind to events around them as they turned inward to commune with their queen. Outstretched arms grasped at air as I ran through them.
I jumped up beside Seth on the throne and handed over the claymore. We stood back to back as the vermin drew inward, called by their queen.
"Jake says they are close," I said over my shoulder. Pressed to his back, some of Seth's warmth leeched through to my cold body. I kept squinting toward the tunnel, but it was too dark and too far to detect any movement. Meanwhile, hundreds of critters crawled to answer their mistress. If I were totally honest, the situation had veered ever so slightly in their favour. Thoughts of not making it out alive started to gnaw through my confidence. Did I want to become undead without telling Seth how I felt? This didn't seem like the right moment, but what if the exact right time never arrived?
"Seth?" I whispered. My stomach flip-flopped. I could lop off a head, but three little words might make me gag.
"Yes?" His head turned a fraction; neither of us could afford to pull our gaze from the tide rising around us.
I swallowed, my throat suddenly dry. My tongue licked my lips and the words rasped over them. "I love you."
He reached out with his left hand and his thumb stroked the heel of my palm that held my sword. A simple touch that warmed me and reminded me of his constant love. "I love you too, Ella, but perhaps we could discuss it in more comfortable surroundings, once we kill your step-mother?"
Oh yes. I'd like to be very comfortable when I discussed how much he meant to me. I'd like to be lying in his arms in front of his library fire.
Having resolved one issue out loud and another in my head, I could return to the current problem. From our slightly higher location, I was reminded of watching a mechanical gear. I used to peer over father's shoulder as he tinkered with the workings of his pocket watch. There was a similarity between the delicate artistry used to keep time and the way the creatures came together and moved. An outer ring of vermin turned and wound inward with each revolution it performed. Louise was another cog, following a smaller route around the throne. Elizabeth stood off to the side, like a lever ready to be set off. What happened when the entire mechanism was activated?
Louise stopped, hands on her hips as her gaze roamed over us. A sneer on her face. "Was that your great escape attempt, and it’s over already? You really are pathetic. What exactly did you think you were going to achieve down here?"
I gripped the sword tighter. If she came closer we might find out if a knight vermin retained its intelligence once decapitated. "Alice is safe, and Seth has buggered your plans because you didn't listen to local gossip. I'd say that was worth the trip down here."
Seth's family had done a fabulous job of keeping that secret to themselves. Speculation had always focused on Frank's parentage, but no one ever doubted Seth's origins, despite the gossip about his mother. Did that mean Seth was only half noble, like me? Would Frank now become the duke?
"Both situations are temporary. Once mother mobilises our forces, we will swarm over Somerset and find them both." Louise sneered. She could have been beautiful, but her cruelty had always deformed her features. She wore her face like a façade or a mere reflection upon the water, while the troll lurked just below the surface.
I faced off against my long-term nemesis and shuffled from foot to foot while I tried to come up with a witty retort. Her gaze narrowed and her lip twitched in a smile.
The woman had no redeemable qualities at all. At least with Charlotte I glimpsed her humanity at times and hoped she would flourish out from under her mother's thumb. Louise was a creature of Elizabeth's creation twice over. How could two sisters be so different? One embraced the rot in her soul while the other fought it.
I itched to lop her head off, but I rubbed it away. The war stretched far beyond our little community, and for soldiers the world over to repel the vermin plague, we needed information. Louise was going to be useful for once in her life.
"Well, Louise, let me explain in very small words what I intend to achieve down here. Firstly, I'm going to capture you and you're going to live out the rest of your unnatural life chained up as a pet for the War Office. You're going to be their hideous songbird, singing of all you know about vermin to advance their knowledge." Keep her talking for a little bit longer. A gentle tremor worked its way up from the cavern floor, across the stones we stood on, and up through to my boots, a regular beat that eased my heart with each faint thump.
Louise threw back her head and laughed. "And how, exactly, will the little scullery maid do any of that?"
I smiled. "You wouldn't understand, Louise. You see, I have these people in my life called friends. My very dearest friend, Alice, is going to use her mallet."
Louise frowned, about to throw another retort when the whack echoed through the cavern like a retort from a rifle. Louise's eyes rolled up in her head, and for a moment, her irises flashed pure red. Her knees buckled and she began to drop to the ground like a piece of rope that had been untied from a tree branch and simply coiled itself up. Then, everything turned muddy brown as a sack went over her head and was pulled down to her waist. The rough hessian fabric neatly captured her arms.
"Never did like her," Frank muttered as he pushed her flat to the cavern floor and looped a rope several times around her torso. He bound her arms tightly to her sides under the sack and then ran the rope down to bind her knees and ankles. Then he tied the end off tight.
Hard to believe a simple croquet mallet was responsible. Alice stood behind my tormentor and emitted a giggle. She twirled the mallet over her shoulder. "Is it wrong that I really enjoyed doing that?"
"It would make a fabulous new game for the next village fête," I said. In my mind, I imagined a table with holes cut in it. Vermin could be shoved up from underneath, so only their heads and necks exposed. People could be given mallets and told to try whacking their noggins off. However, if Reverend Mason ever returned from his crisis of faith, he might not approve of such antics.
Frank rolled Louise over onto her back. Now she did look exactly like a present, trussed up and waiting for Christmas.
Jack and Jake appeared from the gloom, saluted Seth, and spoke in eerie unison. "Everyone is assembled and waiting your command, captain."
Seth returned their salute, but before he could speak, Elizabeth screamed. "Louise!" Her screech was echoed by the vermin. Her arms dropped to her sides. Her nostrils flared as two soldiers dragged her daughter to one side and farther away from the queen and the mass of undead.
Army boots hitting dirt were a steady rumble through the catacomb as the lads encircled the vermin. Light burst through the cavern as the flamethrower units poured down the tunnel and aimed their nozzles. Liquid fire shot out in front of the men carrying dangerous backpacks.
The first signs of panic rippled through the vermin as Elizabeth's contr
ol shook. Bodies scurried and pushed one another out of the way from short, deadly bursts of flame. Fire herded the vermin toward the centre of the space and tighter around the soaring stones. Surrounded, they rushed to their queen and formed a thickly-packed defensive ring around her.
Let them, I thought, the flamethrowers would make easy work of them. It would be like lighting tightly-bound bundles of sticks under a witch's feet.
"What shall we do the prisoner, captain?" a soldier asked.
"Deliver her up top to the truck. And make sure she stays secure. I want her guarded at all times. We can't have her escaping on us." Seth replied.
Muffled noises came from under the bag. Louise had never been particularly polite, and I’d wager she was using colourful language to curse me soundly. I had no idea what the War Office would do with her, but she was no longer my problem. I had offered to keep a roof over her head, and she chose this path. We all had to accept responsibility for our actions. Which reminded me of one last responsibility I had to deal with.
Time to dispatch step-mother.
The imaginary mechanism continued to wind, but now the gears spiralled in under Elizabeth and lifted her up. Bodies formed a plinth under her and the creatures raised her upward, beyond my reach.
She cast a murderous gaze down at me, and then she laughed.
21
Our army moved into place as soldiers spread out, following the curve of the vast cavern and put themselves between the wall and the vermin. Then, like fire-breathing shepherds, they herded the flock toward the centre. Vermin scuttled backwards, away from the liquid flames, and drew inward into a concentrated pack. Soldiers armed with swords worked behind the flamethrower units, beheading the undead distracted by their own flaming limbs.
My mind couldn't comprehend the number of men tackling the undead. There were far more than the single truckload that followed us here, but where had they materialised from? It appeared Jack and Jake had done far more than tell the lieutenant we were in trouble; they had rallied more troops.
I was annoyed Frank had allowed Alice to return, but she looked fetching dressed as a soldier and emitted a new fierce determination as she clutched the mallet. They had snuck through the enemy lines with a small squad of soldiers and reached us in time to down Louise.
Seth murmured his approval of the situation. "Bain fetched my flamethrowers—good man."
Beyond the wedge of vermin, men lined up in a regimented grid. Seth smirked as though he had planned this all along. Another reason why I loved the man. When he says he will support you, he really means it. Elizabeth may have her army, but I had one too. And mine had flamethrowers.
We faced each other like oddly-arrayed chess pieces, caught toward the end of the game. We were a tiny group with the river at our back, and directly before us was a small nub with the queen at its core. From there, her legions of undead formed a thick band before the ring of army chaps at the back. A small part of me wished for a mighty steed to ride across the cavern floor, with a lance tucked under my arm. Cossimo would have been perfect for the role. But I would make do on foot and with my father's sword.
We had defeated Louise, so all I had to do was rout Elizabeth and her undead minions. A few moments ago that seemed impossible, but now I couldn't see how we could lose.
"The army is yours to command, if you are ready?" Seth asked, taking my hand. He raised my knuckles to his lips and brushed a kiss across my skin.
Oh, I was ready for so many things, once I finished Elizabeth.
"As long as I know you are behind me," I replied. I had given life to this nightmare, and I would extinguish it.
"Always." He grinned and gestured to the queen with his head. "I'll let you sally forth and see if she wants to discuss terms."
I strode over the cavern floor. Elizabeth wanted a spectacle, and she would get one, watching her drones incinerated before her eyes. Then I would come for her. Inch by inch, I would chop down her spiral staircase as though it were dry kindling. Once she was prone at my feet, I would remove her head.
"Where is your champion, now?" I called out. Of course I knew where she was, bound and gagged and waiting to be dispatched to London. She should be happy; she would be the centre of attention for the rest of her unnaturally long life. She would be fêted as the scientific community's darling while they poked and prodded her to learn her vermin secrets.
"Yet again you fail to understand my true might. Louise was my darling knight, not my champion." Elizabeth raised her hands as though summoning something. "Arise! Arise, my pet, and bring these mortals unto my fold!"
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. Elizabeth should have left my father alone and taken to the stage. She had a flair for melodramatics. The vermin closest to her on the cavern floor heaved and moaned. Some fell to their knees, others raised their arms above their heads. The moan turned into a hum as the mass rolled itself together like a hideous ball of yarn. I couldn't make out what they were doing. Perhaps they arm-wrestled to pick a new knight from among them?
The huddle became larger as more piled on top. Some crawled over others, until the whole became a seething heap. Thoughts of the rat king flashed through my mind and I shuddered. Were they making a giant ball to knock us over like bowling pins?
I turned to glance at Seth and the others, but he shook his head. None of us understood what was happening. There wasn't exactly a military manual on vermin hives and how to battle their demented queen. We wrote it as we went along.
The mound of vermin emitted a wail as it grew higher, and yet more continued to throw themselves into the melee. Surely it couldn't get any bigger? Just as it looked as though the throng would fall apart and they would all tumble to the ground … an enormous limb appeared.
I took a step backwards as a forearm the size of a tree trunk emerged, and a hand whose fingers were half the length of a man smacked the ground. I bounced up as the shock wave rippled along the floor. The pile shuddered and another arm appeared.
Oh, God. The limbs were made of vermin.
Watching the hideous creature undulate and move, my mind snatched at lines from Lewis Caroll's poem about the Jabberwock:
Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
The vermin were joining together to create one monstrous whole. That was why the fingers looked almost man-sized; each was comprised of a body. Their torsos linked together to form the hand, while their arms dangled as fingers and nails. Somehow, they had fused themselves into one horrific vermin champion for their queen. An arched back shook free and a grinning head formed on top of it. Like an ogre, it stood with its back bent, unable to stand straight in the cavern. Then it roared. The sound rocked me back on my feet. Hundreds of vermin screamed as one.
"Jabberwocky," I named it. A creature from a child's story, given life and transformed into my worst nightmare.
The hair on the back of my neck stood up and my fingers tightened on the katana. The sword seemed woefully inadequate. I would be like a mouse waving a needle at an elephant. The jabberwocky took one lumbering step toward me. The entire cavern shook and jumped as its weight thumped down on one foot.
Another roar and it swiped at me. Five vermin tried to bat me off my feet. I danced to one side and struck out with the sword. I sliced at a leg but the Hell-born creature didn't even notice. How would I defeat it? If the whole worked like a single vermin, then I needed to decapitate each individual vermin to incapacitate the monster. Or did I need to take off the one, enormous, ugly head?
I ran around its legs, looking for a way to topple the monstrous being. As I dodged for my life, only one thought flashed through my mind—I can't do this alone.
I trusted in Seth. Knowing he would command his soldiers and keep Alice safe. I focused on drawing the jabberwocky to me while my mind raced, trying to figure out how to obliterate Elizabeth's pet. Each time I lashed out and managed to sever a head, the whole ejected the destroyed body and sucked up a fresh one.
Flame burst at regular intervals around the cavern as Seth's flamethrower contingent set to work. The wails and moans turned to screams as cleansing fire sent the vermin back to meet their Maker. If the soldiers torched the scattered vermin, at least my opponent would be starved of new body parts and we could slowly whittle it down. If I survived that long.
The massive arm the size of an ancient tree swung through the air, and I leapt back. It would splatter me against the cavern wall if I wasn't watching my step. Yet again, I danced under its limb and hacked another head from its calf as I passed. What used to be a woman slid down and wriggled on the floor, only to be trod into dust as the giant swivelled to find me.
Light skipped and spun around the cavern as swords rose and fell. Lieutenant Bain and his soldiers cut pathways like men with scythes threshing hay. The flamethrowers torched the rotten bodies, and soon, funeral pyres burned at several spots around us.
Seth rushed under the monster, his claymore slashing at a thigh, and a head rolled under its body as though it had laid an egg. "Have any ideas on how to defeat it?" he asked as we switched sides and dodged truck-sized feet.
So many bodies. Even a dozen swords wouldn’t be enough to defeat it. We needed a method to deal with a large number of packed bodies simultaneously. The spark in my brain burned bright.
"Let's turn this jabberwocky into a wicker man!" I yelled at Seth. The ancient druids would surely approve if I borrowed the idea of their burning effigy. Yet again everything tied together from ancient Britons, the druid runes carved into trees and stone, and now the sacrificial victims packed into the wicker man. "Elizabeth has so kindly built us one, so let's throw a torch on it. Do we have fuel?"
Decomposing bodies didn't burn so well on their own and tended to be a bit moist. When I rode the boundaries, I carried a small flask of petrol to help them burn. The flamethrowers’ task would be made easier if we could douse the monster first.