by Alex Kosh
He stepped forward, twirled one of the pieces of rope above his head and flung it at the golem. When it touched the golem, the rope twitched as if it was alive, and wrapped the short, half-figure in a tight-fitting cocoon.
“One throw, and the job’s done,” Steel laughed.
“But will the rope hold?” Naive asked suspiciously, holding his club at the ready just in case.
“Well, we have time to get out of here before the golem can free himself,” said Caiten, putting a damper on our fighting spirit.
“But what about the teleport?” I reminded him. “The invaders have found their way into the Museum too. What’s to stop them using the exhibits, just like us?”
“Maybe it wasn’t the invaders?” Steel suggested.
“Then it’s even more important,” I countered. “We have to find out who got into the Museum and then take appropriate action.”
“But what if the Craftsmen locked in the hall need help while we’re up here?” Steel persisted. “We have to get down there to help them. It may be too late.”
“Calm down, lads,” Caiten said in a conciliatory tone. “We have to go back to the teleport anyway, and we can search the Museum on the way. Let’s not waste time arguing.”
We were forced to agree. But Steel was starting to get on my nerves, and I decided to keep an eye on him ... just to be on the safe side.
“We’ll split up, but keep each other in sight all the time,” Caiten ordered. “Kelnmiir, can you move about normally?”
“I can move about all right,” the vampire said airily, “only don’t expect any help from me if there’s a scrap ... but then, maybe I’ll find something interesting along the way ...”
So that was what we decided. And Kelnmiir went with me.
“Zach,” he said, as soon as we’d walked away from the others. “Did you know that you’ve been hypnotised? If I had more time, I could even say exactly what kind of hypnosis was used on you.”
“I know that already,” I muttered. I didn’t feel like talking just then. What Steel had said about us being late had really spoiled my mood.
“I think I can guess who you’re worried about,” the vampire continued.
“So?” I said in an even less friendly voice.
Kelnmiir suddenly stopped and picked an object up off the floor.
“Alice is all right. If anything had happened to her, I would have sensed it.”
“How come?” I asked in surprise. “Can vampires really sense each other?”
“Sometimes,” Kelnmiir replied. “It doesn’t happen very often, but it does happen. For instance, close relatives are connected.”
“Oh sure,” I laughed. “What kind of fool do you take me for? You and Alice are from completely different clans. How could you be related?”
“Believe it or not, we are,” said the vampire, exposing his fangs in a broad smile.
“And does this connection tell you with complete certainty that she’s fine?”
Kelnmiir thought for a moment.
“Not with complete certainty,” he replied eventually. “She could be a prisoner, she could be drugged or tied up, but one thing I can say for certain. Alice is alive and no one is hurting her.”
I thought about that. If Alice was alive and no one was hurting her, she must be all right, and she was with Chas too. That was reassuring.
“And just what is this connection?” I asked.
“She’s my great-granddaughter,” Kelnmiir replied
“How’s that possible?” I asked, flabbergasted, and immediately stumbled into something and collapsed on the floor.
“Quiet.” Kelnmiir hissed, dropping to the floor beside me. “Look.”
I looked where he was pointing and saw three trolls walking straight towards us. The stone carcasses were moving quietly, stepping very softly, which was why we hadn’t heard them.
“Look how quietly they’re walking. Clever lads,” Kelnmiir remarked, then thought for a moment and added: “For trolls.”
“I hope the others managed to hide in time,” I whispered.
“I’m afraid not,” Kelnmiir sighed when the trolls changed direction sharply. “Let’s crawl after them, if anything happens, we’ll attack them from the rear.”
As it happens, crawling along while holding a broom is not very convenient. But how Kelnmiir managed with his ... what was that thing he’d found on the floor? Oh, it was the sword I’d decided not to take. It had to be heavy. And he had the poleaxe. That was for cutting through metal. How did he manage to crawl with all that stuff?
“You should have taken the war hammer as well,” I jibed, I just couldn’t resist it.
“Did you see a hammer?” Kelnmiir asked in surprise.
“It’s too late,” I sighed. “We left it behind.”
“Maybe we should go back?” the vampire suggested, but then quickly changed his mind. “No ... we could miss the most interesting part.”
“Let’s crawl a bit faster,” I suggested. “By the way, why are we crawling, when the trolls disappeared round the corner?”
“I don’t know ... it’s ... what do they call it? The spirit of the hunt ... isn’t that it?”
“No,” I hissed quietly, getting up off the floor. “It’s not the spirit of the hunt, it’s just plain dumb.”
“All right then,” the vampire said.
He got up off the floor and swung the sword and the poleaxe across his shoulder in swashbuckling style, only avoiding slicing my head off by a miracle. And just at that moment we heard a loud clang from round the corner ...
“It’s started!” I yelled, and went running to the aid of my friends, with my broom held at the ready.
But they didn’t need our help. When we leapt round the corner about fifty yards away from the fight, only one of the three trolls was still standing, and Neville and Naive were already advancing on him in a pincers movement. Caiten was standing at one side, evidently coordinating their actions, but I couldn’t see where Steel was.
“There doesn’t seem to be any need to hurry,” Kelnmiir summed up, glancing over my shoulder.
“I already realised that,” I muttered.
But then events took a completely unexpected turn. About twenty trolls arrived on the scene. I didn’t know where they’d been hiding until that moment, but the stoneheads acted rather nimbly. They divided up into three groups and surrounded my friends.
“No, our help might be needed after all,” Kelnmiir corrected himself. “The question is, will it be enough?”
They grabbed Neville first. Naive managed to smash one troll over the head with his club, sending splinters of the poor stonehead flying for a good ten yards. Inspired with sudden respect for their enemy, instead of grabbing him, like his brother, the trolls stunned him with a rather powerful (and sneaky) blow to the head. Meanwhile, Caiten had somehow managed to fell two trolls, but further resistance was useless, and he surrendered. The trolls quickly tied him up and I think they stunned him just to be on the safe side.
“A dragon take them!” I swore, striking my battle broom against the floor.
“Looks like it’s time for us to clear out,” Kelnmiir remarked.
Several of the trolls were already casting suspicious glances in our direction.
I didn’t object, since I realised there was nothing we could do to help my friends now, and we ran in the direction of the storeroom, taking as much care as possible.
“Maybe we should have tried to rescue them after all?” I said to the vampire; I felt guilty leaving my friends behind…again.
“Just think about it,” the vampire replied. “There were about twenty trolls. We couldn’t have done anything, we would have been captured, or maybe even torn to shreds.”
In principle I agreed with him ... but abandoning my friends in distress, I just couldn’t do that. No, we couldn’t have done anything to help at the height of the battle – we didn’t get there in time – and after the fight there was even less we could have done. I
didn’t think I could have taken on twenty trolls with my broom ... and the vampire might be dragging that sword and poleaxe around with him, but he wasn’t really in a fit state to use them, he hadn’t got his strength back yet – or had he? But we could follow the trolls, waiting for the right moment to rescue my friends. It looked as if Steel hadn’t been grabbed, but if he’d decided to hide, there was no way we would find him now. But what if he tried to rescue the others? If we struck from different sides, then maybe ...
“You know, I doubt very much that we’ll be able to rescue Caiten and your friends,” the vampire said, as if he had read my mind. “We have no right to take any ill-considered actions now, because we’re probably the only ones still free.”
And they said that vampires had no common sense!
“And why take such a stupid risk?” Kelnmiir went on. “When we reach the Main Hall where the Craftsmen are besieged, there are bound to be far more trolls there. Then we can really have good time!”
Mmmm, apparently Kelnmiir did have a few difficulties with common sense after all.
“I don’t even know how to answer that,” I admitted.
“And by the way, if you’re really rearing for a fight, there’ll probably be several trolls waiting by the teleports, specially for you!” the vampire said to cheer me up.
“Do you know how to control a teleport?” I asked.
“Quite honestly, no, but I think it’s tuned to Romius’s study, so we won’t get lost,” Kelnmiir replied blithely.
We ran through the storeroom at a rather fast pace. Evidently the vampire had forgotten that I was only a human being and for the last two months I hadn’t had any exercise except for brief strolls from one teleport to another. I was very quickly out of breath and by the time we reached the teleports, I could barely even stay on my feet.
“I see you’re pretty weak,” Kelnmiir remarked.
“It makes you pretty weak,” I hissed, “when you only sleep a few hours every day, run all day like a scalded cat from lectures to meditation sessions to practical classes, slave till you drop in the dining hall and keep getting injured all the time.”
“That’s nothing,” the vampire laughed. “Some day I’ll tell you how I spent my childhood. Now that really is a horror story ...”
What was going on at the teleports could have been called a horror story too. Kelnmiir’s assumptions were proved wrong. There were at least thirty trolls, and they were lugging boxes about! In other words, they were plundering the Museum.
Scene 4
“Yes, I definitely like the scale of this operation,” Kelnmiir said admiringly, when we had crept to within about twenty yards of the teleports. “Combining sabotage, invasion and common theft ... that’s really something.”
“Why don’t you join them, then?” I suggested peevishly. “Since you’ve taken such a great liking to them.”
“Take part in the capture of the Academy?” the vampire said thoughtfully. “No, my great granddaughter likes it here, and she wants to become a Craftsman. So the capture of the Academy will have to be postponed for the time being. And anyway, I won’t accept a mere supporting role in such a memorable event.”
“Sure, better to die in a leading role, defending the Academy,” I chuckled.
“Why so pessimistic?” asked Kelnmiir, slapping me on the shoulder. “I prefer to play a leading role in the successful rescue of the Academy.”
“Well I hope your wish comes true,” I sighed as I watched the trolls lugging the wooden crates to the teleport. All the stone trolls looked exactly the same, they could only be told apart by their loin cloths. And their stone bodies were impervious to the cold, so the loin cloths were strictly symbolic. To be quite honest, I had no idea what we could do against these stone hulks. Beat them with our fists? Absurd. I wasn’t even sure that my battle broom could knock them over as easily as the golem ... although in theory iron ought to be heavier ...
“Don’t be so solemn,” the vampire said with surprising sternness. “For your information, all my wishes have a way of coming true.”
I wondered if he was serious, or just trying to reassure me.
Meanwhile the trolls lined up and started walking into the teleport one by one, holding the crates in their arms.
“You know, I think the rescue of the Academy ought to begin with the rescue of its property,” Kelnmiir mused thoughtfully.
“And what do you suggest?”
“I suggest creeping closer to the teleport, then making a rapid advance and teleporting to Romius’s study. Immediately after that, we’ll smash the teleport, leaving the stoneheads trapped in the Museum until things improve.”
“But Caiten said there were other teleports in the Museum,” I recalled.
“But are you sure that the trolls know that? In any case, it will delay them for a while.”
“And what about Steel? It didn’t look as if they caught him,” I reminded the vampire.
“We don’t know that, and even if he wasn’t caught, are you suggesting we should give the invaders a chance to plunder the repository of technomagical items?”
“You’ve persuaded me,” I sighed. “Shall we crawl?”
“Right!” the vampire said and flopped to the floor. “So even you feel the spirit of the hunt at last?”
“I feel it, I feel it,” I said to shut him up.
Kelnmiir categorically refused to abandon the sword and the poleaxe, and I was much too attached to my battle broom, so crawling was awkward, to put it mildly. And that was the reason – it had nothing to do clumsiness – that when we had almost reached the teleport, I happened to catch one of the crates with my broom. And, as ill luck would have it, the crate happened to be standing right on the corner of the shelves.
“Catch it!” the vampire hissed.
I grabbed the crate and held it up, but in doing that I caught the next one with my foot ... and that caught another one ... and the final result was that five wooden crates of various sizes tumbled off the shelf onto the floor. I hardly need to say what a terrible racket that made.
“Run!” the vampire roared one second before the first crate fell, and sprinted for the teleport, still holding on to his sword and poleaxe. As he ran the vampire managed to swing these incredible heavy lumps of iron and scattered all the trolls who happened to come between him and the teleport. I followed Kelnmiir at top speed, not forgetting to grab my broom off the floor.
Our sudden appearance was accompanied by such a terrible din that at first the trolls were stunned by this unexpected attack. And when they did react, the vampire and I were already at the teleport. Kelnmiir dashed straight into it, but I gave way to a sudden impulse – I turned towards the advancing trolls and waved my broom. All the stoneheads were simply blown away. And why not? It was foolish of me not to believe in the power of my universal battle broom.
As I emerged from the teleport in Romius’s study, I was horrified to see the vampire preparing to swing the poleaxe at me. I was so surprised, I squeezed my eyes tight shut ... could he really have decided ...
“Don’t just stand there! Get off the teleport!” Kelnmiir shouted angrily.
I hastily stepped down off the platform, and the vampire immediately smashed the poleaxe down onto the round disk.
“What took you so long?” the vampire asked as he struck blow after blow.
“I had to tidy up a bit before I left,” I replied. “Listen, that’s enough, I don’t think anyone will be able to use this teleport now.”
“Ah, yes ...” said Kelnmiir, slightly embarrassed. “I got carried away ...”
“What next?” I asked, trying to stop myself shaking.
“I have an idea,” Kelnmiir said thoughtfully. “It’s very dangerous and very interesting.”
I almost collapsed.
“Can’t we get by with just interesting?”
“Oh no,” the vampire said blithely. “You never get interesting without dangerous.”
Feeling a slight weakness in my
legs, I sat on the edge of the bed.
“And what do you suggest?”
“This is no time to be talking it easy,” said Kelnmiir, shaking his head. “The trolls were carrying the crates into the teleport, so more stoneheads will turn up here at any moment to collect the next delivery. You can please yourself, but I’m leaving.”
I jumped off the bed and ran out of the room after the vampire. Fortunately for us, there was no one in the corridor yet.
“Now where to?” I asked in bewilderment.
After all, the standard-route teleports only allowed trolls through, there were no windows on the Craftsmens’ level, and we had just smashed the only teleport that was working normally. I wondered what the vampire could have come up with.