Live and let Drood sh-6

by Simon R. Green

  And I didn t want something as powerful as the Merlin Glass announcing our presence to anyone who might be watching.

  There was nothing in any way interesting about the stone chamber the Glass had delivered us to. Square, dusty, entirely enclosed. No obvious way in or out. Thick dust jumped up from the floor with every small movement Molly and I made, forming clouds in the air before falling sullenly back again. The four walls were completely bare, featureless; just basic blocks of dark stone put in place God alone knew how long ago. My family hadn t made this place. We just took advantage of it.

  Are you sure we re in the right place? said Molly. I m not seeing anything useful. In fact, I m not seeing anything worth looking at.

  I gave the Glass the right coordinates, I said.

  The place isn t important; it s just a repository for what we re looking for.

  Then where are we? said Molly. Her voice, and mine, sounded very flat and very small in the ancient enclosed surroundings. I am officially not impressed by any of this or the fact that I ve got to maintain a goldfish bowl of fresh air around my face. So, tell me exactly where we are right now or I am divorcing you.

  We re not married.

  Eddie!

  We are in the Valley of the Kings, where ancient Egypt buried their most revered dead, I said. Or at least we are currently deep underground, underneath the Valley of the Kings. In a secret compartment of an undiscovered tomb. And, no, I don t know whose. There are still quite a few undiscovered tombs buried deep under the shifting sands, ready to be dug up. And given some of the things the old-time pharaohs had to bury or imprison everything from djinn with bad attitudes to animal-headed gods that had got a bit above themselves it s probably just as well that no one s found them.

  Molly looked at me for a while, realised that I d said all I was going to say on the subject and gave me one of her looks.

  You really do get on my tits, sometimes, Eddie. You know that? We re here somewhere, in someone s tomb, looking for something. I ll bet my sister Isabella knows more about this place than you do. More than your whole family, probably.

  I wouldn t doubt it, I said generously.

  Molly sniffed and looked about her, trying to find something worth looking at. Isabella would love this. Much more her thing than mine. Louisa; who can say? Wait a minute. Did you say deep underneath the Valley of the Kings? How deep, exactly?

  Probably best not to think about it, I said.

  I stepped up to one of the bare, featureless walls and studied it carefully. Molly moved in beside me, holding the witchlight up to give me better lighting. I moved quickly along the wall, searching for Drood sign. Dust was falling from the ceiling in slow steady streams. Almost certainly not a good sign.

  I still don t see anything, said Molly.

  No hieroglyphics. No loweroglyphics. Not even any Egyptian graffiti, like Cleopatra does it with ducks. And I certainly don t see any trace of a very useful Drood item. I don t know what your family left here, Eddie, but it is clearly long gone. Somebody else got here first and beat you to it.

  Not necessarily, I said. According to what my uncle Jack told me, this chamber was deliberately left empty, to give just the impression you ve described. To discourage anyone who might have stumbled on our secret location. Now if I remember correctly

  I went over the whole wall, studying it from top to bottom, through the expanded and augmented Sight of my golden face mask. Top to bottom and side to side, and then on to the next wall. Where a brief flash of light finally caught my golden eye; a sign left for Droods to see. I leaned in closer and there, barely halfway up the wall, a small but very significant sign had been delicately carved into the rough stone. I gestured to Molly and she squeezed in beside me. She picked out the sign even faster than I had. Molly s a first-class witch, and she s always been able to See more than me when it comes to the hidden world.

  Is there a curse attached? she said suddenly.

  There ought to be a curse attached. You know, something like,

  Death shall come on swift wings to all those who seek to steal that which belongs to Droods! That sort of thing

  Almost certainly not, I said.

  Ought to be a curse, said Molly, pouting.

  It s not proper tomb robbing unless there s a curse involved.

  We are not tomb robbing! I said. We are simply recovering something that my family happened to leave here long ago. For safekeeping. Now, there should be a second stone chamber, right next to this one. On the other side of this wall.

  I armoured up my right arm from shoulder to fingertip. The golden metal slipped down from my torc and encased my whole arm in just a moment. I was getting used to the cold. Hardly shuddered at all. I flexed the fingers of my golden gauntlet. I felt strong, capable, ready for anything. Like I could punch a hole through steel plate, never mind an old stone wall. Molly looked at me thoughtfully.

  Why aren t you wearing your complete armour, Eddie? Normally, you can t wait to slip the whole thing on and do your superhero thing. So why settle for just the one arm now? Eddie, are you afraid of your new armour?

  No, I said immediately. I m just concerned that a display of Drood power in such an out-of-the-way place might draw unwanted attention. I don t want anyone knowing we re here.

  Are you back to that unseen-watchers bit? said Molly. We are not at home to Mr. Paranoia! Who could possibly know we re here?

  Good question, I said grimly.

  I turned away from her and struck the stone wall a good solid blow, and my golden fist punched right through the stone and out the other side. Molly cheered and clapped her hands loudly. I laughed out loud at the sheer ease of it. Jagged cracks radiated out across the wall from the hole I d made, but the wall itself remained, holding itself together. I wriggled my wrist around, but the hole didn t widen. I tried to pull my hand back and found I couldn t. My wrist was stuck in the hole. I was glad I had my mask on, so Molly couldn t see how embarrassed I felt. I struggled to pull my hand back, but it wouldn t budge. It was wedged in place.

  Out of the corner of my eye I could see Molly trying hard not to laugh.

  Really not a subject for humour, Molly, I said sternly. If I get this wrong and bring the wall down, this whole chamber could collapse around us.

  I am reminded of a little Dutch boy said Molly.

  Don t go there, I said. Really. Don t.

  I raised one foot and planted it firmly against the wall and pulled steadily on my trapped hand, throwing all the armour s strength against the hole. And soon enough my golden hand jerked back out. I stepped back and braced myself, ready for the wall to decide enough was enough and just fall to pieces but apart from a few more radiating cracks, everything was still. Some more dust fell from the ceiling, but I was getting used to that. Egyptians knew how to build things to last in those days.

  I went back to the hole in the wall and carefully worked the edges, a few inches at a time, crushing the stone with my powerful fingers and throwing it aside. And inch by inch the hole grew bigger.

  You are sure it s in there? Molly said helpfully. Whatever it is we re looking for that you still won t talk about.

  There is quite definitely another chamber on the other side of this wall, I said patiently. The object in question was sealed in there. For protection.

  I m not Seeing any magical protections.

  Well, that s probably because there aren t any. The feeling was that any magical shields in such an out-of-the-way location would only draw people here to find out what there was that was worth protecting. We just have to hope that the traitor in my family didn t give up the secret of this location to our enemies. Though he might not have known about it; this was one of our most important and most restricted secrets. We can t be sure what the traitor does or doesn t know until we know who he is.

  First things first, sweetie, said Molly. Do you think you could speed up the wall destruction just a bit? I really would like to get out of this tomb sometime this week, preferably.


  Why the rush? I said. Somewhere else you have to be?

  I don t like it here, said Molly.

  There was something in her voice as she said that so I armoured up both arms, and widened the hole with savage speed, tearing chunks of old stone away from the edges of the hole, while still being careful not to do anything that might bring the wall or the ceiling down. Even with my full attention focused on the task, on the wall, I could still feel Molly watching me. I knew what she was thinking, but she was wrong. I wasn t afraid of my new armour. That wasn t why I was doing it this way. I was just being cautious.

  Finally, I stood back and studied the larger hole I d made. I d opened up a good-sized gap some three to four feet in diameter. It had felt good to be breaking something, to smash the stone in my golden hands. To inflict my will on the world and make it follow my needs I clamped down hard on that feeling. I couldn t trust my feelings while I was wearing any part of the rogue armour. I couldn t hear its voice in my head or sense its presence looking over my shoulder but I had no doubt it was still there. I wasn t afraid of Moxton s Mistake. I had no doubt my torc gave me control over it. But I was afraid of what I might do if tempted. I still remembered what I d done that night in the Wulfshead when I struck down old friends just because they were in my way. When I beat the Indigo Spirit half to death because he wouldn t let me do what I needed to do. I d done my penance at Castle Shreck. That had to count for something. But I was damned if I d ever give in to that kind of anger again. So I had to be careful when using the rogue armour. I had to be cautious.

  I leaned forward and peered through the hole I d made. Molly immediately moved in close behind me, breathing hard on my neck.

  Well? Well? What do you see?

  Can t see a damned thing, I said.

  Are you sure there aren t any mummies in there? said Molly. I ve always been just this little bit freaked out when it comes to mummies. Ever since I saw that old mummy film with Boris Karloff on late-night television when I was a kid.

  I liked the Hammer version, I said, with Christopher Lee.

  Blasphemer.

  Listen for the beat of the cloth-wrapped feet. No, that was a later one. Wasn t it?

  It s all about the bandages, said Molly, squeezing in close beside me so she could see into the hole, too.

  The feeling that it was only the rotting bandages that were holding the mummy together

  She brought her glowing hand forward and sent cheerful amber witchlight through the gap I d made and into the chamber beyond. It looked like just another stone chamber, but this time with a raised slab in the centre of the dusty floor that bore a small wooden box. I took my time looking the chamber over, but I couldn t see anything else.

  That s it? said Molly. That tiny box is what we came all this way to find? Oh, is it a wishing ring? I ve always wanted one of those.

  That is very definitely it, I said. Just as Uncle Jack described it to me. And, no, it is not a wishing ring. They re just myths and legends.

  Lot you know, said Molly. Get out of the way.

  She shouldered me aside and thrust her arm into the gap, reaching for the box on the raised slab. I stuck my face into the gap with her. It soon became clear that she couldn t touch the box. Every time her fingers came anywhere near it, they seemed to just slide away no matter how hard she tried, or how much she swore.

  Told you, I said after a while. It s protected in a very small and subtle way; only Droods can touch it.

  Molly jerked her shoulder back out of the hole, stretched her arm a few times and then glared at me. You did not tell me that, or I would have remembered. Why didn t you tell me?

  I wanted to see if the story was true, I said.

  There are a lot of stories about this place, about this box and what it contains. Once people found out that Uncle Jack had told me the secret, they couldn t wait to come forward and confuse the issue with all the different versions of the story they d heard. I needed to see if this box is what it s supposed to be, so I can be sure the thing inside the box can do what I need it to do.

  So I m your lab rat? said Molly. Your canary in a cage? Are you about to use the words booby trap, by any chance?

  I was pretty sure my being here would defuse them, I said. Anyway, I knew you could look after yourself. If you had to. If anything went wrong. Besides, I was here. I would have protected you.

  You are so full of yourself, Eddie.

  I m a Drood.

  Same thing.

  I reached through the gap and my golden fingers immediately locked onto the box. In fact, it seemed almost to leap into my hand, as though it had been waiting all these ages just for me. I pulled my arm back and held the box out on the palm of my metal hand. Molly leaned in for a really close look, while being very careful not to touch any part of it. I had to say, after coming all this way and placing all my hopes on it, it didn t look like much. Just a small, flat, square box made from some dark wood, with Druidic stylings carved into the lid. Molly finally decided enough was enough and reached forward to lift the lid. Only to find she still couldn t touch it.

  Told you, I said. This is a Drood secret. Only Droods can access Drood secrets.

  If I wasn t so eager to see what s inside the box and you weren t the only person here who could open it, I would drop-kick you right through that wall, said Molly.

  I rolled the armour up my arms and back into my torc and then gently ran one fingertip across the lid of the box. It sprang open of its own accord, reacting immediately to Drood contact. Molly and I watched the lid rise, holding our breath. And there inside the box was an old-fashioned compass. Copper surround, glass top, ivory base and a lead needle. There were no markings anywhere on the ivory base.

  A compass? said Molly. It really is just a compass? I may spit. We came all this way for a bloody compass?

  Getting a bit loud there, Molly, I said. We don t want to disturb the neighbours.

  What use is a compass with no directions? said Molly. Or is this supposed to be some kind of Zen thing?

  Wait, I said, trying hard to sound confident. I tapped the clear glass with one bare fingertip and the needle immediately spun round and round before settling firmly on one direction. And then, no matter how much I shook the compass, the needle wouldn t nudge from its chosen direction.

  Okay, I am seriously confused now, said Molly.

  Tell me there is an explanation on its way, Eddie, or there is going to be serious trouble breaking out right here, right now.

  When we finally have the means to go after my family, I said, This compass will point whatever device we end up using in the right direction. It will provide exact coordinates. That s what it s for. No matter where my family is now, no matter how far from our reality Alpha Red Alpha has sent them, they can t be hidden from this. It was created for this one vital purpose: to point to my family.

  All right, I ll bite, said Molly.

  How does it work? And why can t I touch it?

  Well, basically, I said. Very basically the compass locks onto Drood DNA. Our whole bloodline is unique. Right back to our beginnings. The Heart had to make subtle alterations in our DNA to make us compatible with our torcs and armour. To make sure no one without Drood blood could ever use them against us. Ethel did offer to change us all back when she gave us our new torcs, but she couldn t be sure what the side effects might be. So I said, Thank you, but no. Respect what works, and leave us the way we are.

  So Droods aren t human? said Molly.

  Think of us as more human plus, I said.

  Yeah, said Molly. You would think that. Are you sure Ethel didn t make any changes to your family s DNA to make you compatible with her strange matter? I mean, that stuff nearly killed you the first time it got into your system.

  She swears she didn t. And I don t see why she d want to hide it when she s been so open about everything else.

  Yes, but

  I know. We have to trust her, Molly. Because my family doesn t have any other source for our armour. Do
n t you trust her?

  I like her. She s very likeable. But you ve always been far too trusting, Eddie.

  That s not an answer.

  I know.

  We looked at each other for a long moment and then both decided that this was a subject for another time. We looked back at the compass, sitting there so quietly and patiently on my palm.

  This compass is specifically attuned to our altered Drood DNA, I said. It s powerful enough to detect it and point to it, no matter where it may be. In this world or out of it.

  What powers the compass? said Molly. I mean, there s not much of it.

  I was afraid you were going to ask that. I did ask the Armourer, and he gave me a half-hour speech that had all my little grey cells lined up and kicking the crap out of one another. Let s just say one of our previous Armourers hit this thing with the science stick until it agreed to work and leave it at that.

  Hold everything. Go previous. Hit the hand brake, said Molly. You said this whole scheme was cooked up centuries ago. Are you telling me Droods knew about DNA way back then?

  Who knows what my family knows, or when they knew it? I said. Though I have a sneaking suspicion, from certain hints Uncle Jack couldn t keep himself from dropping, that time travel may have been involved at some point. I hate time travel; it really messes with your head.

  And then both our heads came up as we looked around sharply. We stood very still, listening.

  Did you just hear something? said Molly.

  I was really hoping that was just me, I said.