The Society of Dread

by Glenn Dakin

  ‘I hope so.’

  ‘Well, we can’t hide in here forever. Let’s take a look.’

  Theo opened the refuge door and led the way out, his hands aglow, ready for the first sign of a tentacled enemy. Dead crelp lay smouldering and bubbling around the entrance, but no living creatures to be seen.

  ‘Where are we going?’ asked Theo.

  ‘Into danger, of course,’ Chloe said, her glance darting from side to side as she left the refuge. ‘Stay vigilant!’

  ‘Bring him!’

  The faceless figure, tall and dark, in ragged garb, sat in his command chair, surrounded by control panels, pistons and gear wheels: the gleaming instruments of ancient alchemy. Wisps of black smoke curled up from cracks in his ashen skin. In that ghastly head, deep, dark sockets showed a glint of moist eyeball.

  ‘I want the old man, now!’ rasped the broken, painful voice. Two thorny, aged crelp seethed and fluttered their tendrils at his feet.

  From the doorway emerged Queasley, the one-eyed Sewer Rat, prodding Magnus with his staff. The old cemetery keeper heaved his bony frame along on his two walking sticks. With grim resolution the old man navigated his way slowly through the glittering dials, spinning iron wheels and screeching pressure valves that filled this, the top of the central tower in the Great Furnace.

  The control centre had no roof and was open to the airs of the cavern, and the giant chimney, built of immense stone blocks, towered above them in the darkness, belching stinking smoke. Flecks of ash danced in the air and rained down on the shining control stations, but no one seemed to care.

  Hollister and Queasley, staffs in hand, flanked Magnus as he was presented to their master.

  Magnus gazed at the faceless man, still struck with disbelief.

  ‘Dr Pyre,’ he breathed. ‘How can you be here . . . now? You died many, many years ago!’

  The faceless man’s eyes flashed, as if they might spontaneously combust at any moment and take his whole head up in a grisly bonfire.

  ‘It appears not,’ he growled. He paused. A faraway look came over his ravaged features. For a moment his harsh voice sank to a whisper. ‘These are strange days indeed,’ he began. ‘To the denizens of this underworld, the slinking smoglodytes and the sly garghouls, the whole human era is known as the Aftertime. They speak as if our whole age is but an afterthought of creation. Well, it seems that Dr Pyre, too, has been allowed Aftertime.’

  Magnus gave the ashen man a deep, penetrating look, as if searching for something only he could see.

  ‘What year is it?’ Dr Pyre asked suddenly.

  Magnus told him. The faceless man nodded.

  ‘I see,’ he said in a strange soft tone that seemed filled with sadness.

  ‘But, Master, why do you believe him – and not us?’ asked Queasley. ‘We found you in the tunnels, we’re the ones who follow you!’

  ‘Because,’ Dr Pyre roared suddenly, ‘this is a world of lies!’

  Dr Pyre cupped his hand and let a small fire crackle there. ‘This is a world that deserves to burn.’

  The two Sewer Rats laughed coldly at this and raised their staffs in salute at the sentiment.

  ‘Back in the old days – the ones you now call Victorian,’ Dr Pyre said, ‘we used to say that when a man bought a newspaper, the only truth it reliably contained was the date on the front page.’

  Queasley nodded. ‘Yes, yes – very good, sir!’

  Dr Pyre peered darkly into the distance. ‘Now even that verity has lost all meaning for me!’

  Hollister and Queasley exchanged a look, uneasy.

  ‘Time means nothing down here, Master,’ Queasley said with a cracked smile. ‘Survival comes by seconds, not years.’

  Silence followed, punctuated by the rumblings of the Furnace.

  ‘A world of lies,’ said Magnus musingly, edging closer to Dr Pyre on his battered old sticks. ‘Indeed. Well, I know of a good lie. A lie that sits before me.’

  Queasley and Hollister stepped back, as if expecting Magnus to be incinerated on the spot. To their surprise, Dr Pyre merely laughed.

  ‘I know your secret,’ Magnus said calmly.

  Dr Pyre suddenly arose, fragments of his ashy skin falling around him.

  ‘Enough!’ he shouted. ‘All the secrets will burn, now, and my great enemy will burn with them.’

  The terrifying figure gestured at the gleaming technology around him. ‘Behold, the Wonderful Machines,’ he said. ‘As large as life, and not a mere shadow of legend. I have a final, brilliant task for them, to purge and purify this world.’

  He advanced on Magnus.

  ‘I need a wiser, older head to help me when I go into the vault below to start up these ancient devices. You will serve me.’

  Magnus gave Dr Pyre a long look. ‘No,’ he said.

  Dr Pyre’s eyes glowed. Dark smoke curled from the cracks in his skin. He seemed about to burst into flame.

  ‘You will serve me!’ he repeated.

  ‘No,’ repeated Magnus calmly. ‘And, as you can see,’ he added, ‘I am far too old to be scared – even of you.’

  Smouldering, and shedding the occasional spark, Dr Pyre glowered at the cemetery keeper. Finally, he turned away.

  ‘Then I shall proceed alone,’ Dr Pyre snapped. ‘Without delay.’

  He headed for the doorway.

  ‘What – what shall we do with the old man?’ Hollister called out.

  ‘Take him,’ Dr Pyre muttered, ‘to the deepest dungeon.’

  Chapter Sixteen

  Phase Two

  ‘Did you hear that?’

  Theo looked around uneasily. He and Chloe were winding their way up a spiral staircase, hewn into the rock behind the fortress.

  A rumbling sound echoed down the stairway from above.

  ‘Vibrations, shaking the whole place,’ Chloe said. ‘I think I know why.’

  Theo forced his aching legs to keep pushing, taking him higher up in the darkness. He almost tripped over Chloe, who was crouched, waiting for him where the stairs ended.

  ‘Keep down,’ she whispered. ‘There might be guards.’

  ‘Guards guarding what?’ Theo asked. ‘Where are you taking me?’

  Chloe beckoned Theo to follow her through the stalagmites to a gap in the wall ahead. As Theo neared, he could see it was an arched and ornamented doorway, linking the stairway to a cavern.

  And the cavern was enormous.

  ‘Level Four,’ Chloe breathed. ‘The crelp argued about bringing me up here – to their boss. So, of course, we have to take a look.’

  Far away, through the darkness, a vast building loomed, like a nightmarish factory. A towering, monolithic chimney spewed black smoke high into the cavern roof. Lights flickered through the fumes, from a row of guard towers. Fires flared from beyond the Furnace’s fortress-like walls.

  ‘What is it?’ gasped Theo.

  ‘It’s enemy action,’ said Chloe, staring into the distance. ‘When those crelp were arguing about what to do with me, they kept talking about their master.’

  Theo looked across at the fiery edifice with awe.

  ‘It seems he’s the one who started up this ancient furnace,’ Chloe continued. ‘He’s the one who released the crelp and I’m guessing he’s the one who’s captured Sam and Magnus.’

  Theo gulped.

  ‘So that’s where we’re going,’ Chloe said finally.

  Suddenly she bent down and started to rub ash into her face. ‘Do what I’m doing. It’s important to blend in.’

  Theo pulled a face. Throughout his childhood, Dr Saint had never let him get dirty at all. Even now, it was hard to defy his upbringing.

  He had lost his gloves in the battle at the refuge, cast aside and mired somewhere in a slick of smoking crelp slime. Now he crouched down gingerly, poked his finger into the ground, and with great daring dabbed a tiny smudge of ash on the end of his nose.

  ‘It won’t kill you,’ said Chloe. ‘But being seen might.’

  Theo grabbed a
handful of soot, shut his eyes and made sure his face was thoroughly filthy.

  Chloe grinned. ‘Now you look like a real boy.’

  Theo grinned back. It was nice having Chloe there to tell him what to do. He was used to being given orders and he felt more at home with Chloe taking charge.

  ‘I always wondered what was on this level,’ said Theo, staring ahead towards the Furnace. To his eyes it looked like the dark realm of some fairytale underworld king. ‘It’s amazing!’

  ‘It’s terrible,’ Chloe said, her face looking grim and resolute in the volcanic light from the distant fires. They set off across the cavern, their feet slipping and sinking in the mounds of ash that coated the floor.

  ‘There are tales, legends from years ago, about this place. I can remember Mr Norrowmore talking about them when I was just a little girl.’

  Theo’s ears pricked up. Mr Norrowmore was the legendary leader of the Society of Unrelenting Vigilance. His recent death had left the secret society in disarray.

  ‘So you knew him back then?’ Theo asked, giving Chloe a curious glance. ‘Did Mr Norrowmore look after you?’

  Chloe shook her head. ‘Society members don’t talk about their pasts,’ she said, with a superior air. ‘The Mysteries must be respected.’

  Disappointed, Theo plodded on through the ash. Chloe looked at him and her face softened.

  ‘Well,’ she sighed. ‘Remember my mum died when I was young. My sister Clarice went into a Society of Good Works orphanage, but I was adopted by a couple of Vigilance agents. For reasons of secrecy I’ll call them the Weird family. Mr Norrowmore would come round to visit them sometimes. Late at night, he would sit around with Mr and Mrs Weird discussing the old myths of the Society – always when they thought little Chloe was fast asleep –’

  ‘Aha!’ Theo interrupted brightly. ‘So your real name is Chloe Weird.’

  ‘No, you clot! Anyway, you’re off the point. One night I heard them all yarning about some inventions, buried deep in the network: the Wonderful Machines. They were built in an age when alchemists conjured with power beyond our understanding. Mr Norrowmore said they could rip a hole in the world.’

  Theo gulped. He wanted to ask Chloe if she was exaggerating, but somehow couldn’t find the courage.

  The sight of the smoking Furnace seemed to swim before Theo’s eyes. Why did things that looked so wonderful have to be terrible too? A deep foreboding began to grip him as he plodded on in the fiery light. Now and then the rumbling and clanking of underground machines seemed to shake the very rock around them. After one particularly loud boom, a stalactite plummeted down from the cavern roof above and landed in the ash only yards away from them.

  ‘Nice places we go together,’ Chloe said, giving Theo a smile.

  ‘Hey – look!’

  Theo pointed towards the Furnace. On the top of an ash heap, human slaves could be seen, carrying heavy sacks. As they trudged closer, more and more dark figures became apparent, toiling away under the watchful eyes of the crelp.

  ‘We should try to get close to some of these prisoners,’ Chloe said. ‘Ask them a few questions!’

  Clang, clang, clang.

  A high-pitched sound rang out through the air.

  ‘Dinner time,’ Theo said.

  Chloe gave him a withering look. ‘Dinner time?’

  ‘Well, it’s like the special gong at Empire Hall – when important visitors came to dinner.’ Theo looked glum. ‘Not that I ever saw any of them,’ he added.

  ‘Sounds like an alarm to me,’ Chloe said. ‘Don’t tell me we’ve been spotted!’

  Clang, clang, clang. The noise was getting louder, more insistent. Theo noticed that many of the workers had downed tools. People started shouting and running.

  Then it happened.

  The ground shuddered. Chloe fell over, and cried out as the ashes burnt into her hands. A deep groaning noise filled the air. A red light blazed from the main tower of the Furnace.

  ‘Get out of here, you idiots!’ someone shouted, racing past them in filthy rags. ‘Don’t you know it’s Phase Two?’

  ‘They think we’re slaves, as well,’ Theo said. ‘The alarm isn’t about us!’

  ‘Something’s up!’ Chloe said. ‘We’d better –’

  She stopped, as with a deafening rumble, the ground beneath their feet trembled and began to shift.

  ‘An earthquake!’ exclaimed Theo. He had read about them in books, but never expected to actually be in one.

  ‘Come on!’ Chloe tugged at Theo’s sleeve, but he stood transfixed, watching the ground break up into gigantic cracks.

  ‘This is no earthquake!’ cried Chloe. The cracks were not random, jagged shapes, but perfectly straight lines. Ash cascaded down into the darkness below, as the cavern floor split up into huge plates.

  With a thunderous groaning that sounded like the end of the world, the giant plates started to retreat into the cavern walls. Everywhere slaves were racing towards the edge of the cavern.

  Clang, clang, clang. The alarm rang out over the deafening screech of machinery. Chloe shoved Theo forwards, as the very ground they were standing on began to disappear beneath their feet. Chloe stumbled and screamed, ‘Run!’

  Chapter Seventeen

  Moss Break

  They stood on a ledge, Theo gasping for breath and coughing on cinder dust. Chloe gazed into the black hole that had opened up at their feet. The ground, which had been an artificial surface, concealed under layers of ash, had now withdrawn into the cavern walls.

  ‘Well, what a bit of luck,’ panted Chloe. ‘We arrived at showtime!’

  With the cavern floor gone, the Furnace stood now like a dark fortress on the edge of an abyss. They had made it into one of the many tunnels that surrounded the cavern, and from the edge they had a perfect view of the yawning chasm below.

  ‘Phase Two,’ Theo said. ‘Making a big hole.’ He looked puzzled.

  But as they stared downwards, tiny points of light appeared in the shadowy gulf.

  ‘Look!’ said Theo excitedly. ‘There – and there!’

  The abyss was coming to life. Far below, lights began to shine, tiny pinpricks at first. Slowly, shapes began to appear in the gloom – great wheels of silver, spires of glass and enormous pistons, as tall as great trees. Theo could only stare, awestruck. It was like a whole city of marvels beneath their feet.

  ‘The Wonderful Machines,’ breathed Chloe.

  ‘Hey, you two!’

  Theo jumped, as a voice echoed out of the cave behind them. A one-eyed man in filthy rags waved a staff at them.

  ‘Get back inside, you two,’ the figure snapped. ‘Before I belt yer!’

  ‘Human guards! The plot thickens,’ whispered Chloe.

  ‘Pathetic specimens,’ the guard muttered. ‘Don’t know what the crelp were thinking of, bringing you two.’

  Behind the man’s back Theo and Chloe exchanged a hopeful look. They had obviously been taken for slaves who had gone astray. With his bandaged head and ash-smeared face, Theo was certainly unrecognisable as the young master of Empire Hall.

  ‘Join the others – get some water. Wait for orders.’ Queasley waved regally with his staff, sending Theo and Chloe further down the tunnel.

  ‘Who was he?’ hissed Theo.

  ‘Looked like a Sewer Rat to me,’ Chloe said, making sure she couldn’t be heard. ‘Those tunnel-pirates I told you about. Looks like they’re mixed up in something big this time. Whatever you do, don’t let on who you are! Keep your head down and let me do the talking.’

  Suddenly they emerged into a smooth, man-made tunnel. Ahead, a dim fungus globe illuminated a startling scene. In a circular chamber, a row of slaves were queuing to drink water from a pool. The ragged figures were so caked in ash it was impossible to tell them apart. A guard with a staff stood by the pool, making sure there was no dawdling.

  ‘Do what I do,’ Chloe whispered, quickly joining the line for water.

  Theo drank thirstily when offered the bowl
.

  ‘Don’t guzzle too much,’ said the guard with an unpleasant snicker. ‘They say it turns you into one of them!’ His glance flitted towards a passing crelp, its translucent body almost invisible in the half-light.

  This remark seemed to intrigue Theo, but Chloe nudged him along forcefully before he could reply.

  ‘Over there,’ she urged. She steered Theo towards the darkest corner of the chamber, where a couple of slaves were resting.

  ‘Well, well, well,’ Chloe said. ‘What have we here?’

  Sitting on a rock, covered head to toe with ash, and looking very sorry for themselves, were Sam and Freddie Dove.

  Sam’s soot-caked face split in a grin of pure delight.

  ‘Theo!’ Sam gasped, jumping up. ‘Chloe!’

  ‘Sit down, you twit!’ hissed Chloe. ‘And for goodness’ sake, shut up!’

  The guard glanced vaguely towards them, then continued dishing out water for some new arrivals.

  ‘Well, it’s about time,’ Freddie said without enthusiasm. He glanced at the guards that surrounded them on all sides. He also looked meaningfully at Theo’s bandaged head. ‘What kind of a rescue do you call this?’ he added.

  Sam was still beaming.

  ‘You’re miracle workers, you two!’ he whispered. ‘How did you get in? How did you know we were here?’

  ‘This isn’t a rescue – yet,’ Chloe said quietly, sitting down on a rock, and adopting the gloomy, downtrodden air of the other slaves. ‘It’s a Vigilance Reconnaissance mission,’ she said. ‘Grade three,’ she added randomly, with a glance at Freddie. Then she frowned at Theo, who was gawping around the chamber like a tourist.

  ‘Slump a bit,’ she urged Theo with a shove. ‘Fit in. Look like you’ve been working hard.’

  This left Theo a bit bewildered, as he had never really worked hard in his life. He studied the slaves around him, who slouched despondently with heads down, hands and arms in stiff postures, cramped with fatigue. Copying them as best he could, he took a perch next to Chloe.

  Theo quickly explained how they had made it there. Freddie frowned at the story of how Lord Dove had implored Theo to find his son.

  ‘I thought the old villain hated me,’ Freddie said with a doubtful air. ‘Must be going soft in his old age.’