The Skeleton Clock

by Justin Richards

  ‘You should know by now,’ Albright said as they started up the path to the main gates, ‘that the force of the law is no match for the power of money and influence.’

  ‘Obviously not,’ Revelle said.

  ‘Officer Dowling knows how it works,’ Albright said. And Jake sensed that there was more to his words than the simple statement.

  Revelle seemed to sense it too. He glanced at Albright, then looked away. Behind them, Mandrake was still enjoying the situation, and noticed nothing.

  Albright waved his pass at the Defeaters on guard at the main gates and they went through. In the floodlit courtyard beyond, Marianna Patterson was waiting. She seemed every bit as amused as Mandrake. Standing with her were a tall thin man in a white coat and two more Defeaters.

  ‘I got your letter,’ she said to Albright as they approached. ‘Delivered by a very capable young lady.’

  ‘She’s an officer I can trust to do the right thing,’ Albright responded. He glanced at Revelle. ‘She knows where her real loyalties lie. Unlike some.’

  ‘Well,’ Miss Patterson said, ‘Mr Mandrake and I have some things to talk about. Doctor Stammers here would like some information about genetics, tissue rejection, transplant surgery. You have it?’

  Mandrake produced a thin plastic box from his coat pocket. Inside, Jake could see a silver disc like the ones he and Sarah had found in the archives. ‘It’s all here.’

  ‘Then we can get started.’ She turned to the two Defeaters. ‘Take them away,’ she said nodding at Revelle and Jake. ‘I’ll deal with them later. And thank you, Chief Inspector,’ she said to Albright. ‘Your own loyalty has been noted. I’m sure your daughter will appreciate it.’

  Albright said nothing. He watched as Mandrake and Doctor Stammers followed Miss Patterson into the White Tower. As Jake and Revelle were led away by the Defeaters.

  *

  The cell was damp and dark and deep underground. The only light came from a single misshapen candle stuck with its own wax to a low shelf on the back wall. There were no windows, and the door was thick, heavy metal.

  ‘I think we’re staying for a while,’ Jake said.

  There was a narrow wooden bench against a side wall, but no other furniture. Jake sat down on the bench and watched Revelle pacing up and down.

  ‘We have to get out of here,’ Revelle said eventually. ‘I don’t know how, but we have to get out and stop them.’

  ‘And we don’t even know what they’re doing,’ Jake pointed out. ‘Not really.’ He felt numb and empty. There was nothing they could do but wait. ‘Sarah got away, I hope. Maybe she’ll send help.’

  Revelle raised his eyebrows. ‘Maybe. We can’t get though the door, and there’s no window,’ Revelle said. ‘So we can’t get out until the door is opened. If it ever is,’ he added grimly.

  ‘You think they’ll just abandon us,’ Jake asked, horrified by the thought. ‘Leave us to starve to death?’

  ‘I doubt it. Marianna Patterson will want to gloat. And why leave us a candle if they’re just abandoning us?’

  Jake watched Revelle pacing for what seemed like hours. He was never still, measuring out the tiny cell over and over again with his footsteps.

  ‘So what do we do?’ Jake asked at last.

  ‘Think,’ Revelle said, sitting down beside Jake on the bench. ‘Our brains are our only weapons now. If – when we get out of here, we need a plan.’

  Silence returned as they sat together, neither of them seeming to have any suggestion.

  ‘You were going to get the Head,’ Jake reminded Revelle after a while.

  Revelle nodded. ‘That does seem important to them.’

  ‘We think it’s the head of someone called Azuras,’ Jake said. He recounted the story he and Sarah had read in Mandrake’s archives as best as he could remember it.

  Revelle listened patiently. ‘Interesting,’ he said when Jake had finished. ‘But I don’t see why they want the thing, whatever it really is. I mean, they’re already creating the Phibians. However they do that.’

  ‘They do it from people,’ Jake told him. ‘They operate on them, add some essence of the Kraken creatures or something. Turn them into those things.’

  Revelle was appalled. ‘Are you sure?’

  Jake nodded. ‘They did it to Geoff. They tried to do it to Sarah…’ He swallowed drily and looked away, unable to tell Revelle what had happened to Sarah.

  ‘That’s grotesque,’ Revelle said quietly. ‘Horrific. We have to stop them. I thought Albright…’ He shook his head and thumped his fist hard on the wooden bench in sudden fury.

  ‘What is it with him?’ Jake asked. ‘And what did Miss Patterson mean about his daughter?’

  ‘I don’t know. I know that Albright has a daughter. But I’ve never heard him talk about her.’

  ‘But if he’s your boss, why is Albright against us?’

  Revelle shrugged. ‘Politics. He gave me a lecture about how things really work when I tried to arrest Councillor Halbard. But I thought he resented it as much as I do. I thought that, underneath it all, he really did want to do the right thing.’

  ‘Perhaps he thinks he is doing the right thing,’ Jake said quietly. ‘Perhaps he’s right and we’re wrong.’

  ‘No,’ Revelle insisted. ‘How can what you’ve just described be the right thing? People have suffered and died – the people who have been made into Phibians. Then there’s Atherton. Even Revenue Officer Moulson – even he didn’t deserve to die. No one deserves to die.’

  ‘Not even us,’ Jake murmured.

  ‘I thought Albright appreciated that.’ There was genuine sadness in Revelle’s voice. ‘I thought, deep down, he was willing to do the right thing.’

  There was a scraping noise from the door – the sound of a heavy bolt being drawn back. Then another. The door swung slowly open.

  In the dimly-lit corridor outside, Jake could see the unconscious body of the Defeater who had been left on guard. Standing in the doorway, hands on her hips, was the woman Jake had met at the Watch Tower.

  ‘Hello Cath,’ Revelle said.

  ‘Albright sends his regards,’ she replied. ‘You are in such trouble, Thomas Revelle. You know that, don’t you? You and your damned conscience, you’ll get us all killed.’ She stood aside to let Jake and Revelle out of the cell. ‘So, what’s the plan?’ she asked. ‘And what the hell are those things in the next cell?’

  ‘Sorry?’ Revelle said.

  In answer, Cath stepped aside to let them out into the corridor. ‘It took me a few minutes to find you,’ she said. ‘I looked in here first.’

  The door further along the corridor was the same as the one to their cell, except there was a sliding plate set at eye-level. Cath slid it back and gestured for them to look through the small observation window behind.

  Revelle looked first, then stepped out of the way for Jake to look.

  The room beyond was bigger than the cell where he and Revelle had been held. And it was full of Phibians. They stood silent and still, not seeming to notice Jake looking in.

  He slid the plate closed and stepped away.

  ‘Let’s get the hell out of here,’ Revelle said. ‘And we’re taking the Head of Azuras with us.’

  ‘The what?’

  ‘Don’t ask,’ Jake said. ‘But it’s heavy, and we think Miss Patterson needs it for whatever she’s up to.’

  ‘Her and Mandrake,’ Revelle said, leading the way to a steep flight of stone steps. ‘Or maybe it’s Mandrake who wants it. Miss Patterson needs his help. She needs access to his archives, remember. Maybe she doesn’t really care about the Head at all.’

  ‘Yeah, well let’s just find this head thing and get away from here,’ Cath said. ‘I don’t care who wants it, but I do care about keeping my own head firmly where it’s supposed to be. Right?’

  ‘Right,’ Jake and Revelle both agreed.

  This late at night, the building seemed almost deserted. They passed a couple of Defeaters, and Revelle a
nd Cath flashed their Watch badges at them. The Defeaters didn’t seem interested.

  ‘Albright gave me a letter to bring to Miss Patterson,’ Cath explained. ‘But he made it clear that I should stay here after I’d been let in to deliver the letter.’

  ‘Maybe he’s on our side after all,’ Jake said quietly.

  Revelle grunted. ‘He’s on his own side,’ he said.

  With every step, Jake became more and more nervous. With every second he became more and more certain that they would be caught and all three of them would be thrown back into the tiny cell. Only when they finally reached the short corridor he remembered led to the room where the Head of Azuras was kept did he begin to relax, to believe he might actually escape from the White Tower alive.

  But all that changed as soon as they entered the room.

  The Head was gone. The plinth stood empty.

  ‘She must have taken it to the laboratory down under the Tower,’ Revelle said.

  ‘We’re not going down there,’ Jake told him.

  ‘Down where? What are you talking about?’ Cath asked.

  ‘Let’s just get out of here,’ Jake pleaded. ‘We’ll have time to worry about it later.’

  ‘Oh, I’m afraid you won’t,’ a voice said from behind them.

  Jake spun round. Gabriel Mandrake was standing there. He had two Defeaters with him, and they were holding machine guns.

  ‘Miss Patterson would like to see these people,’ Mandrake said. ‘Bring them.’ He didn’t wait for an answer, but turned and walked briskly from the room.

  *

  Revelle had described the underground laboratory to Jake, but the description didn’t do justice to the enormous space. Or to the smell of rotting fish that hung in the air. Cath was looking round in amazement.

  ‘What are they doing down here?’

  ‘Don’t ask,’ Jake told her.

  ‘The tunnel back to Mandrake’s is at the back,’ Revelle said quietly. ‘Maybe we can make a break for it.’

  ‘Maybe we can get ourselves filled with holes,’ Cath said. ‘Good plan.’

  At one side of the huge space a group of white-coated technicians was gathered. Jake could see Marianna Patterson with them. They seemed to be standing round a table. Mandrake was hurrying over to join them.

  ‘Is it finished?’ he demanded. ‘Was it successful?’

  ‘Judge for yourself,’ Miss Patterson told him. She stepped away from the table, and the technicians moved back to, so that Mandrake had a clear view.

  Jake had a clear view too. He found himself walking towards the steel table, unable to take his eyes off the creature that lay on it. He was vaguely aware of Revelle’s sudden intake of breath. Of Cath’s hand at her mouth as she stifled a cry of shock and disgust.

  On the table lay one of the Phibians. Its scaly skin was moist, its hands twitching, fingers curling and clenching. Slowly, carefully, awkwardly, it sat up. One of the technicians had to help it, supporting the creature’s back and pushing it upright as it swung its legs over the side of the operating table.

  The top half of the Phibian’s body was encased in a mesh of steel rods. They emerged from ruptures in the skin, from the back and the chest. Tiny joints allowed the rods to flex and move. The rods were there for one reason – to support the creature’s head. They bent and rotated as the head moved. The golden head that was otherwise far too heavy for the glistening neck to support.

  The creature got slowly to its feet. Deep, dark eyes stared out of the golden eye sockets of the Head of Azuras, as the creature took its first faltering steps.

  The voice was just as Jake remembered it. Only now it sounded louder and more confident. Not pleading for help, but triumphant.

  ‘I live again!’ Azuras said.

  Chapter 22

  By the time Sarah got home she was no longer scared. She was angry. She was livid at what had been done to her, furious at what might be happening to Jake, enraged by what they’d done to Geoff.

  The Phibians swam with her to the end of Shaft Street. She thanked them, reaching out and touching their cheeks before climbing out of the water and standing on the jetty. It was long past midnight and the street was deserted and almost dark. The loudest sound was the noise of the water dripping from her drenched body and spattering on the wooded decking.

  ‘They’ll pay for what they’ve done to you,’ Sarah said.

  One of the Phibians tilted its head quizzically to one side. Then both of them slowly disappeared down into the blackness of the water.

  ‘They’ll pay,’ Sarah repeated quietly.

  The door was unlocked, the lights still burning. The bell jangled as Sarah opened the door, and her father was jolted awake in his chair by the counter.

  ‘Sarah?’ He got slowly to his feet, eyes wide with disbelief. ‘Oh my God – Sarah!’

  They stood holding each other tight. Neither of them said anything. The father trembling for the return of his daughter; the girl trembling with a confusion of anger and love.

  She only realised how hungry she was when he brought her a mug of warm, thin soup and some bread. She only realised how tired she was when she fell asleep sitting beside him at the workbench. Her head nudged against her father’s shoulder as he worked.

  The Toymaker put down the tiny knife he was using and placed his arm round Sarah’s shoulders. He had listened enthralled and horrified as she told him her story. He had searched through the shelves of books at the back of the shop until he found a volume of ancient tales from faraway lands. He had read aloud to her the story of Azuras – all of it. Right up to the ending.

  Or almost. The real ending, it seemed, had yet to be written and they were both players in the story. With the Toymaker’s drawings of Jake’s knight spread across the workbench to prompt them, they both knew what had to be done.

  While the Toymaker worked through the night, his daughter slept, and dreamed of being human once more…

  *

  The creature that was Azuras shuffled hesitantly forward, its dark eyes focusing on Mandrake.

  ‘I know you,’ it said. ‘You came to question me. You asked me questions, demanded answers.’ It stopped in front of Mandrake, looking down at him. ‘You want to live forever.’

  Mandrake swallowed and took a step back. ‘The secret, yes,’ he said hungrily. He licked his dry lips. ‘You have survived for so long – through plague and war and flood…’

  Azuras laughed. ‘Through darkness and shipwreck and solitude. You want to live forever? Then prepare to be lonely.’

  ‘I am prepared,’ Mandrake insisted. ‘Tell me the secret.’

  ‘You think it is worth it?’ The head nodded ponderously, clamps and rods straining. Wet, scaly flesh bulged and flexed where the metal entered the body. ‘You are right. Life is worth any cost. Even this.’ He held up his hand, flexing the webbed fingers, the scales shimmering in the light. ‘And soon I shall have my body restored to me. I know the answer.’

  Jake and the others – even Miss Patterson and the technicians – were watching and listening with rapt attention. As Azuras spoke, Jake noticed another figure, standing at the back of the technicians. His face pale and his expression grim, it was Chief Inspector Albright.

  ‘You have solved the riddle of Rahan?’ Mandrake was asking, transfixed.

  ‘I have had so very long to ponder it. I know the answer. Or most of it. Soon I shall know it all.’

  ‘Soon? How soon?’

  ‘It has taken me a thousand years to work it out. In perhaps only another few short decades, checking and re-checking, I will be sure.’

  Mandrake was aghast. Marianna Patterson laughed.

  ‘Imagine that. If you only wait long enough, Gabriel,’ she said, ‘you can live forever.’

  ‘Then help me,’ Azuras said. ‘You want the secret? Then help me discover it. This body you have given me is not alive. I am not alive.’

  ‘What do you mean?’ Miss Paterson demanded.

  ‘There is no blood p
umping in my veins. No life in this body. It is a shell, controlled by the power of my will. A shell that will rot and decay. Rahan promised me eternal life. He promised me I should have my body restored to me if I solved his riddle. I am so very close – help me solve the last parts of the puzzle and when my body is restored to me, I will give you the secret.’ He leaned forward slightly. ‘Eternal life,’ he whispered.

  Mandrake turned to Miss Patterson. ‘You need it as much as I do. If your Phibians are to be the future you hope for, if they are to live more than a few months, you need the secret too.’

  Miss Patterson told the technicians to get back to their work. She glanced at Jake and Revelle and Cath, then turned to Albright. ‘You can take care of them.’

  Albright stepped forward, drawing his gun. ‘Of course. Anything you say.’

  ‘Why are you doing this?’ Revelle demanded. ‘What hold does she have on you?’

  Albright didn’t answer, and Cath nudged Revelle to be quiet.

  Miss Patterson turned to face Azuras – Jake and the others already apparently dismissed from her mind. ‘Tell me about the puzzle, the riddle of Rahan,’ she said. ‘And tell me how we can help you solve it.’

  The grotesque figure stood in front of them, swaying slightly on its webbed feet. ‘Rahan made me a promise,’ he said. ‘When he left the chamber where we had played at chess for all those years, when he abandoned me, he promised I should have my body restored to me when – and if – I solved his puzzle. His challenge.’

  Jake could see the eyes in the deep, dark, golden sockets. Human eyes, staring out unfocussed as they looked back into the past, into the memories of Azuras. Into legend. As Azuras told them the rest of his story…

  *

  Rahan had made Azuras a promise. If Azuras could beat him at chess, then Rahan swore he would restore his body to Azuras. But Azuras was unable to win, and Rahan the Wise remained undefeated for the long and lonely years until the chamber was opened by Castigor, great-grandson of Azuras, and they were discovered inside. Playing chess.

  As he left the room, Rahan gave the head of Azuras another challenge – a puzzle, a riddle to be worked out on the chess board.