The Society of Dread

by Glenn Dakin

  Now that Theo was in the insect house he wished he had put more of the goo on. He stared in a mixture of fascination and horror as bugs of every kind flitted in the shadows – antennae pricked up, segmented worms scurried, and immense dragonflies zipped about almost too fast to see.

  ‘From your description, and with a check through my own research, I believe that the Gondwanan Jellystar is the nearest known creature, anatomically, to the crelp.’

  ‘Ah.’ Theo was beginning to understand.

  The Dodo headed through the first insect house and into a larger chamber beyond. ‘And the closest insect parasite I possess to the natural enemy of the Jellystar is . . .’ The Dodo pulled on a metal ring and lifted a huge glass case, seething with tiny fleas inside.

  The Dodo smiled. At least, Theo took the twisted leer on his disfigured face for a smile.

  ‘The hungry little Saurophthirus!’ he said with relish. ‘See how they hop!’

  Theo shook a giant millipede off his leg.

  ‘We have Lady Blessing to thank for the excellent crop of parasites.’ The Dodo dragged more and more of the seething glass cases from their racks. ‘She has encouraged me to keep up all my old interests, long after the real joy in such pursuits has died.’

  ‘That’s good,’ said Theo, trying to be polite.

  ‘Bring the fleas,’ grunted the Dodo, grabbing a case for himself and lumbering off.

  * * *

  Had the original Candle Man ever been involved in events as extraordinary as this? Theo gazed around him at the massed ranks of bizarre creatures, ready to depart the underground zoo. He recognised the Caspian Tiger, which the Dodo called Rakhim, and the eager pack of Siberian Wolf Rats. Perched in the shadows above were the teratorn – vast condors as big as garghouls – grooming and preparing their jet-black feathers for flight.

  Far behind them, lost in the darkness, were other creatures, stamping, lowing, hissing and snorting.

  ‘Some of the best ones are too big to go down the tunnels,’ Lady Blessing said. She had appeared next to Theo attired in a complete protective suit of shimmering silver, topped with a see-through helmet. She looked like a rather fashionable astronaut. ‘The mastodon is very disappointed!’

  Theo managed a smile. Then he frowned.

  ‘I – I still don’t know what you’re doing here,’ he began awkwardly. ‘According to rumours, you went missing during Dr Saint’s attempt to close up the network. People think the Dodo killed you!’

  They stepped aside as an eager horde of Trogontheriums, outsized prehistoric beavers, lumbered by.

  ‘I started out as a prisoner,’ Lady Blessing explained. ‘But things are different now.’ She paused to feed a dead mouse to a teratorn. ‘Sir Peregrine has come to appreciate my work – my help here. Now, I’m not really a captive any more. I’m more like a . . .’

  ‘Wife?’ said Theo helpfully.

  Lady Blessing glared at him. ‘Twit!’ she spat out. ‘No thank you! I was going to say: trusted advisor.’

  ‘Ah.’ Theo felt awkward. Somehow he had put his foot in it. He decided it didn’t matter that much. ‘But why have you stayed? Don’t you want your old life back? Are you happier here, working with the animals?’

  Theo gave her a hopeful look, which she ignored.

  ‘I’m here on a mission,’ she chirped, with a sudden playful air.

  ‘What mission?’

  Lady Blessing walked away, speaking over her shoulder.

  ‘If you are a very clever boy, and somehow live through all this, then you might find out.’

  Now Theo could see the Dodo lurching towards him with two white-coated figures in his wake.

  ‘I wish I could meet the mastodon,’ said Theo. ‘I’ve seen one in a book: figure two, page one hundred, Woolcombe’s Bestiary of Post-Diluvian Extinctions.’

  The Dodo grunted. ‘Now is not the time. And remember: size does not always win the day.’

  The Dodo gestured towards the men who had followed him. Each was attired in a long white lab coat and goggles and was holding either end of a large metal trunk. Inside, carefully packed in foam, was a big glass globe, containing a hopping, dark mass.

  ‘My insect bomb,’ the Dodo said with a proud glint in his eyes. ‘A bit of a long shot, but any advantage will be worth it. We shall save it for the strategic moment. The parasitic Saurophthirus may enjoy making the acquaintance of the revolting crelp.’

  The flickering mass in the glass ball seemed to twitch and throb in anticipation.

  ‘What about us?’ asked Theo nervously. ‘If we use the bomb – will we be safe from them?’

  ‘Naturally,’ replied the Dodo, with something approaching a horrible smile. ‘It’s all a matter of specialisation. These parasites only feed on one type of gelatinous flesh. Neither we nor the rest of my creatures will be troubled, I assure you.’

  Then the Dodo unleashed an ear-splitting howl and his team of keepers headed into the network, each accompanied by a group of birds and beasts: silvery wolves, outsized rats and shadowy teratorn.

  ‘According to my bats, the crelp are limited in number, their forces ringing the network to defend against attack from any direction. In short, they are stretched. You, Skun and I will each test them at the points agreed. You will need all your tripudon power, I suspect.’

  Theo didn’t trust himself to speak. He was too excited.

  ‘We will each take our own, separate routes, as we have planned,’ the Dodo continued, looking up as Lady Blessing reappeared, carrying an enormous diving costume of ancient manufacture. ‘And our forces will rendezvous at the appointed place.’

  Theo nodded. The Dodo cocked his head and gave Theo a sidelong look.

  ‘Have you ever ridden a Quagga?’ he asked.

  Chapter Thirty

  In Command

  Theo had fallen off his Quagga long ago and was struggling to keep up with everyone else. The zebra-like beast trotted at Theo’s heels now, snorting nervously. Lady Blessing was up ahead, with several of the Dodo’s keepers, trying to keep control of the army of rats, wolves and Trogontheriums that seemed eager to sniff out crelp without any human encouragement.

  Already, Theo felt he was letting the Society of Dread down in their three-pronged advance on the enemy. The Dodo had led the first squad into the subterranean waterways. A horde of Phytosaurs – fierce, long-snouted ancestors of the modern crocodile – had been taken down an underground stream into the heart of the network’s canal system. So far, it had been noted that the crelp avoided water as a means of getting around and this could be a way of out-manoeuvering them. If the plan worked, the Dodo would come up behind crelp lines.

  Skun was out there somewhere too, trying to round up his lost tribe and bring them to the Well Chamber by narrow ways that only the smoglodytes knew. Would he succeed? Theo was surprised to find himself already missing the chatter of his eager companion.

  As he pressed onwards in the gloom, Theo stumbled on a battered and discarded Orpheus helmet. He had reached the spot where his own group of Orpheus officers had been attacked by the crelp. For a moment he considered putting the helmet on himself, then disregarded the idea. It hadn’t done its original wearer any good.

  Tunnel twenty up ahead, Theo thought. The fungus houses. He had often thought of visiting this section, while studying the network map in the safety of his room at Empire Hall. Now everything was horribly different.

  They were heading for the scene of the attack on Chloe’s squad. Would there be any traces of that dreadful defeat? Would there be any trace of Chloe? He swallowed hard and tried not to think of it.

  ‘At last you’re here!’ sighed an impatient voice. Lady Blessing stood out in the gloom, her silvery network suit gleaming faintly.

  Theo could now see that the force was no longer pressing forwards. They had come to a halt at a wide, vaulted junction, near to the site of the old fungus farm. Great iron tanks loomed ahead in the darkness.

  But in the middle of the tunnels was a sin
ister, living barrier. A mass of crelp were draped horribly across the passage, their tentacles festooned together to form a living wall.

  In the face of this freakish sight, the Dodo’s army of beasts seemed uncertain; the rats skulked at the heels of the wolves, which peered ahead warily. The Trogontheriums bared their long teeth but could identify no real creature, no foe to attack.

  ‘A living wall of monsters,’ Lady Blessing said with an air of disgust. ‘Any ideas, Candle Boy?’

  Theo stepped closer. It was a sight to chill the blood. Ahead, hanging among the massed crelp tendrils, the bodies of Orpheus soldiers could be glimpsed.

  ‘They – they’ve made a wall – out of themselves and – and . . .’ Theo could not bring himself to mention the bodies, horribly suspended among the crelp mass. One of those couldn’t be – mustn’t be Chloe.

  ‘The animals can smell the death,’ Lady Blessing said. ‘They’re fearful – confused. If we don’t do something soon, we may have a stampede on our hands.’

  ‘A stampede?’ Theo looked around at the horde of extraordinary creatures they had brought with them. When the Dodo had been around, it had never occurred to Theo that these creatures might panic and run wild. Now, of course, things were different.

  ‘Yes,’ said Lady Blessing. ‘I’m afraid the dear old Dodo didn’t anticipate this nasty little trick.’

  One of the keepers was whispering calming words to a great Newfoundland wolf and gently stroking its striped mane.

  ‘We need action,’ the keeper commented. ‘The creatures are getting jumpy without the Dodo here. They need to follow someone they consider to be their pack leader.’

  ‘So what shall we do?’ Theo wondered aloud. ‘I mean, who – who’s in charge?’

  Lady Blessing looked down at Theo as if he were stupid.

  ‘Why – you are, Master Wickland,’ she said. ‘Head of the Society of Good Works. You outrank me. And you’re a leader of the Society of Dread. It’s time you started earning your illustrious titles.’

  Theo nodded, staring blankly. He tried to appear calm, but inside, an anxiety struck him. While making plans with the Dodo and Skun, he had felt strong, like a real Candle Man, like the hero they expected him to be. But now, surrounded by the fretful animals, he doubted himself.

  ‘We could go back,’ Lady Blessing suggested with the air of someone on a holiday stroll. ‘Try to find a nicer way down.’ She glanced back at the horrible wall of tendrils blocking the path. ‘We do seem to be rather stuck.’

  Go back? Theo asked himself. But this is where I hoped to find Chloe. This is where her squad was last seen. He didn’t want to go back.

  ‘What about the insect bomb?’ he asked.

  ‘The Dodo has taken it ahead, remember?’ Lady Blessing sighed. ‘Sorry, but we haven’t got one.’

  Theo strained his eyes, trying to see through the murk, past his ghastly foes, down the passage beyond the fateful junction. The fungus globes in the tunnel revealed a few sinister glimpses of their foe, but only enough to spread horror, not enough to reveal useful facts. They couldn’t see to guess how thick the mass of crelp was. It was the unknown that was so frightening.

  Was Chloe hanging there, somewhere in that slimy morass?

  No. Theo refused to believe it. In this moment of crisis, he refused to be afraid. He would not be beaten by the darkness and the horror.

  The light will win, he told himself. I won’t give in to despair.

  I am the Candle Man.

  Theo stared at his hands. He raised them above his head and they burst into blinding light. Theo stepped forward alone. Concentrating his mind, he poured light on the tunnel ahead.

  The wall of crelp began to squirm in the brightness. Tentacles began to move, unweaving themselves from each other. As Theo took another step, one of the crelp detached itself from the wall and slithered swiftly backwards, to hide behind its fellows. A stir ran through the Dodo’s army of creatures.

  Theo continued forwards, concentrating on his hands and making them shine with a steady, controlled glow. They crackled with power, an energy that the crelp could sense was dangerous to them.

  More crelp began to pull themselves free of the wall of tentacles, a hiss of fear spreading through their ranks. An encouraging growl was heard from Rakhim, the Caspian Tiger, behind Theo.

  I’m with you, it seemed to say.

  An excited chatter of grunts and howls broke out amongst the animal army. The Caspian Tiger stood beside Theo now; in the absence of the Dodo, the great cat was accepting Theo as its leader. Confidence seemed to surge back through the herd of creatures.

  Suddenly a screeching teratorn swooped into action and snatched up a crelp in its beak. The other crelp began to retreat, slithering back over one another to avoid Theo’s approach. Rakhim pounced forwards and seized another crelp in its jaws. A nearby crelp tried to wrap its spiny tentacles around Rakhim’s neck, but Theo swiftly touched the tendrils with his fingers, and the whole crelp went up in a flash of green flame.

  The onslaught began. In seconds, rats, wolves and Trogontheriums were tearing into the crelp with flashing, sharp teeth. Whenever the crelp tried to fight back Theo was there, his hands a blur of lightning, filling the tunnel with stinking, burning, molten crelp slime.

  ‘Now we’re cooking!’ said Lady Blessing, as she followed carefully in Theo’s footsteps. ‘It’s such fun to have you on our side, Theo darling.’

  The battle for Junction Sixteen was soon over. Terrified of Theo’s power, fleeing in panic, the crelp were easy targets for the Dodo’s horde. Sharp-taloned teratorn, savage wolves and nimble, ferocious rats soon sent them scattering, wailing, into the gloom.

  Theo led the way across the junction to the passages beyond. The bodies of Orpheus officers lay here and there, among fallen eradicator weapons and torn remains of crelp.

  As Theo stared at the nightmarish scene, he noticed something even more shocking. Close up, he could see that the bodies were strangely flat, their skins spread out and grotesquely floppy. In a moment of realisation, he saw what had happened to them.

  Their bones had been taken.

  Theo looked this way and that, a glitter of dread in his eyes. Would he see a sign, a trace of his friend?

  ‘What are you looking for?’ one of the men asked.

  Theo did not reply.

  ‘We should move on,’ Lady Blessing urged.

  But Theo did not want to move on. He was staring down the passage to his left, suddenly transfixed by an astonishing sight.

  Walking towards him was a girl, glowing with a ghostly light.

  Chapter Thirty-one

  Surrounded

  Fear as well as astonishment filled Theo’s eyes as he stared at the glowing figure, who was stepping over dead crelp bodies and moving towards him.

  ‘Chloe! You – you’re . . . you’re not dead . . . are you?’

  Chloe laughed. ‘That’s a bit of a daft question, even for you!’ she replied, grinning. Her dark hair stuck outwards in an untidy shock, and she was wearing shredded rags.

  Theo still stared wide-eyed.

  ‘But you’re glowing!’ he gasped. ‘I – I thought you might be a ghost.’

  Chloe looked at her hands and frowned. ‘Of course,’ she exclaimed. ‘The fungus!’

  A snort was heard from Rakhim and the big Caspian Tiger began to sniff around at the bulky metal vats that lined the walls of the passageway.

  ‘We were ambushed by the crelp,’ Chloe said, turning to follow Rakhim. ‘There were too many of them to fight. We got cut off from Colonel Fairchild.’ She was no longer smiling now, her face drained and pale.

  ‘Suddenly I remembered where we were – near to these old fungus houses. I’ve passed them countless times in my work for the Society of Unrelenting Vigilance. This is where we grow the glow-mould that powers the fungus globes. These old iron vats made perfect hideaways that even the crelp couldn’t get into.’

  Chloe pressed a code into a small panel at the
side of an iron door.

  ‘I managed to lock a few survivors in here before I hid myself in one of the other tanks. That’s why I’m glowing. I’m covered with the spores.’

  Theo’s face cracked into a grin as he saw Sergeant Crane crawl out of the tank, along with a handful of luminous Orpheus officers.

  ‘Might have known you’d come to rescue me, Theo,’ Crane said. ‘You’re that kind of bloke.’ He gave them both a slap on the back. ‘Chlo’ gets me into trouble, you get me out of it. Saves life from getting dull, I suppose!’ The gangling policeman rose to his full height and tried to pat the mould off his torn uniform.

  ‘Perhaps you’d like to explain who your friends are?’ he added with an almost comical look of bemusement.

  Lady Blessing had come to see what was happening, along with two white-coated keepers, several wolves and Theo’s Quagga.

  ‘Ah, well,’ said Theo, an anxious look creeping over his face, ‘I hope you won’t be annoyed, but to fight Dr Pyre I’ve made an alliance with the Dodo, Lady Blessing and the entire smoglodyte race.’ He gave Chloe a hopeful smile. ‘Err . . . is that all right?’

  To his surprise, Chloe nodded and strode swiftly ahead.

  ‘Sound war strategy,’ she said. ‘My enemy’s enemy is my friend. Well done, Candle Man. Now let’s get on with the job, shall we?’

  ‘Just in time!’ Chloe said. They had reached the final approach to the Well Chamber. Emerging from a tunnel, they gazed down into a cavern with a vast, barred iron gate at the far end. To the right was a deep dark pool, fed by a snaking canal.

  Trapped between the gate and the waters of the canal were the Orpheus reinforcements. Theo could see Colonel Fairchild shouting orders while his men formed a ring around him. But surrounding them was a circle of crelp, waiting, watching, slowly edging closer to the trapped men.

  Theo looked on with grim fascination. The Orpheus squad had another problem. They were fully armed, eradicators primed and glowing with power. But every time the men raised a laser to target the crelp, a tentacle flashed out of the gloom to snatch away the weapon.