The Demon Collector
Page 13
They were pleading, begging, down on their knees.
Henry gave a whine and shuffled close to Edgy. There wasn’t one defiant gesture in the whole room. These creatures hadn’t been ossified as an act of self-defence. They’d been grovelling for their very existence just before someone turned them to stone.
‘The not so attractive side of the Royal Society,’ Sally muttered, not looking at the statues.
‘It’s horrible. What happened?’
Sally gave a sigh. ‘There was a time when the Royal Society of Daemonologie was nothing more than a hunting club. Retired generals, frustrated clergymen with no interest in gathering knowledge or understanding at all. It was just a competition to them – who could kill the greatest number of demons.’
‘It was terrible,’ Spinorix said breathlessly, gathering up his tail and holding it in front of his face as if to ward off the awful vision. ‘Demons were ossified by them like rich folks shoot grouse . . .’
‘Then Lord Mauldeth and Mr Janus joined,’ Sally continued. ‘They were taught by the best demon hunters in the Society. They’d always been competitive but their rivalry got worse as the years rolled on. Lord Mauldeth would “bag” a demon, then Mr Janus would have to ossify two the next day.’
‘The Stonemason,’ Edgy whispered. ‘That’s what Belphagor called Mr Janus. And Talon did too. This is what they meant – Mr Janus has killed so many demons, turned them to stone.’
‘Lord Mauldeth knew he could never beat his younger brother,’ Sally said, looking darkly at Edgy. ‘So, like a spoilt kid, he changed the game. He started searching for the scattered bones of Aldorath. Left Mr Janus high and dry. By the time Mr Janus realised what he was up to, Lord Mauldeth had found the skull.’
‘How d’you know all this?’ Edgy asked.
‘I’ve been around for a bit, y’know. I was there.’ Sally’s pale face seemed to go greyer when she said this. Edgy remembered the journal. She added, ‘They were keen to get rid of these statues and set up this room to dispose of the embarrassing reminder. I thought it’d been sealed off years ago, though.’
‘Anyway, even if it is true, it wasn’t just Mr Janus.’ Edgy frowned. ‘And he’s not like that now.’
‘No?’ Sally said, raising her eyebrows. ‘A leopard don’t change ’is spots, I reckon. Besides, he’s always lookin’ for a new way to outdo his big brother.’
‘Well, Lord Mauldeth always puts ’im down, doesn’t he?’ Edgy said, looking at his boots. He picked Henry up.
‘I don’t see much difference in ’im.’ Sally put her hands on her hips and glared at Edgy.
‘His mind’s on bigger things,’ Edgy muttered. It sounded stupid.
‘Like what?’ Sally asked, her head raised in a challenge.
Edgy’s temper flared. She had a nerve. Who was she to question him all the time? ‘The body of Moloch, that’s what,’ Edgy snapped. His voice echoed through the chamber. Spinorix gave a yelp and dived behind the leg of the nearest statue. ‘I reckon Mr Janus is tryin’ to find it before Salomé does. She’s got Moloch’s heart and if she finds him first, then Moloch will come back and that’ll be an end of everything, including you, missy! So if I wanna do my bit and help him save the world then I will. So there.’ Henry gave a sharp yap and bared his teeth at Sally, punctuating Edgy’s outburst.
Sally stood dumbfounded. Her hands fell from her hips and hung limply by her sides. Spinorix peered from behind the statue. Edgy had never seen his eyes so huge. He exhaled slowly. There. That had told them. They wouldn’t go questioning him so quickly next time.
But their gaze extended beyond Edgy. He glanced over his shoulder, then turned slowly to stare himself.
‘Blimey!’ Edgy croaked, stifling a scream.
Two eyes stared back, swivelling in the sockets of a mildewed demon skull. A skull with a triangular hole cut in its top. The skull sat on the smashed remains of an ossified demon torso. Two demon arms, rather desiccated and decomposed, had been lashed to the sides of the body with string. The whole hideous effigy sat on a flat trolley that was piled with jewellery, bones, watches, old candlesticks, cups and saucers. All manner of objects cluttered the base of the trolley.
‘It’s horrible,’ Sally whispered, putting a hand to her mouth.
But Spinorix jumped up and down on the spot, his head wobbling with joy. ‘The eyes of Argus!’ he cried and ran forward. Henry wriggled out of Edgy’s grasp and scurried over to the trolley, jumping up at the effigy and licking his lips at the eyes so tantalisingly close.
‘In the skull of Aldorath, if I’m not mistaken,’ Edgy murmured, looking at the intricate lines and blotches that scored the bone between the curved horns on the skull.
‘It’s all stolen from the collection.’ Spinorix frowned. ‘Thrown together to look like a demon.’
‘Or placed around it,’ Sally said. ‘Like some kind of offering.’
‘It does look ’orrid,’ Edgy grimaced, watching the eyes of Argus swivel around in the dead sockets of Aldorath.
‘It’s not all here,’ Spinorix said, scampering around the frightful pile, picking up pieces and dropping them again.
‘How d’you know?’ Edgy asked.
‘I just know,’ Spinorix snapped, holding up a milk jug shaped like a dragon. ‘There’s something missing . . . I just can’t quite remember . . .’
‘But we’ve got the most important piece, Spinorix,’ Edgy said, allowing himself a grin. Janus would be so pleased to see the skull and the map. ‘We just don’t know who swiped it all.’
‘Well, whoever brought you down ’ere is probably the same one who’s been thievin’ from the collection,’ Sally said, turning away from the gruesome pile and looking around the cavern.
‘But why didn’t they hang around to make sure the job was done?’ Edgy muttered. ‘An’ why not just kill me right off, instead of draggin’ me all the way down ’ere?’
‘You think the one who’s been stealing from my collection has been trying to kill Edgy too?’ Spinorix goggled at Sally.
‘I do,’ Sally whispered. Her face seemed paler than usual. ‘And if I’m not mistaken, they’re at the door right now . . .’
Envy eats nothing but its own heart.
Traditional proverb
Chapter Twenty-Three
Reflections of Horror
As the heavy iron door squealed on its hinges, Edgy scooped up Henry and followed Spinorix and Sally across the cavern. They threw themselves behind the clutter of ossified demons. Edgy crouched down and held his breath.
‘Do you think this is wise?’ whispered Spinorix, trembling. ‘I mean, it could be anyone. I know of some particularly vicious associate demons . . .’
‘We don’t ’ave much choice, do we?’ Edgy hissed back. ‘Let’s just watch.’
He slowly raised his head and peered through the crook of a stony arm. The cavern was red in the dim twilight of the hellfire lamps. Clutching a cracked mirror, Madame Lillith shuffled across the floor towards the pile of stolen artefacts like an ancient spider. Her narrow, suspicious eyes, sunk deep in her face, flicked left and right.
Spinorix opened his mouth but Sally was quicker, clamping her hand over his face and dragging him to her lap. Edgy put a finger to his lips.
‘There,’ Madame Lillith said, dropping the mirror on to the pile that surrounded the grotesque mannequin. ‘Something more for you,’ she said, barely opening her cracked lips.
‘She’s taken the mirror,’ Spinorix whispered through Sally’s fingers. His eyes bulged with indignation and Sally’s grey knuckles whitened as she held him down. ‘The magic mirror.’
‘Did you miss me, eh?’ Madame Lillith whined at the effigy, her voice sounding like the grating of the rusty hinges. ‘Busy day, ooh, yes. Sweep, sweep, sweep. But that idiot imp wasn’t anywhere to be seen.’
Sally fell to one side as Spinorix tried to launch himself over the statues. Edgy just managed to grab him and drag him back down.
‘So I just helped me
self. Lovely mirror. Cloudy, though. I wish it wasn’t cracked,’ she croaked.
Spinorix went a deeper shade of crimson as Edgy held him firm and Sally clamped both hands over his mouth.
‘He really should look after these things better.’ Madame Lillith breathed on the mirror and rubbed it with her grubby forearm.
Spinorix looked as if he would explode. Edgy wrestled to contain the little imp.
‘Wish I ’ad his job. ’Ere, what’s this?’ Madame Lillith said. She peered hard into the glass. Then, dropping the mirror, she let out a shrill and chilling scream.
Edgy froze and, in spite of themselves, he, Spinorix and Sally all shot their heads above the cover of the statues. Madame Lillith stood, hands over her face, trembling and sobbing. She had turned away from the mirror, which lay on the floor, reflecting the red glow of the hellfire lamps.
‘Obviously didn’t like what she saw in the mirror,’ Spinorix gasped, standing up in full view before Edgy could stop him. Madame Lillith still had her face covered.
‘What d’yer mean?’ Edgy frowned, standing too. ‘I mean, she’s no looker but . . .’
‘It’s a Mirror of Portent,’ Sally whispered. ‘It tells the future.’
‘That one tells of approaching ill fortune,’ Spinorix murmured.
Madame Lillith didn’t look frightening any more. She looked like a terrified old woman. They slipped from their hiding place, eyeing the moaning demon.
‘What did you see? Madame?’ Sally asked quietly.
Madame Lillith looked up at them from behind her shaking hands. ‘Echolites!’ she hissed. ‘They’re comin’ . . . Echolites . . .’
Edgy frowned. She was clearly petrified. ‘What kind of creature frightens demons?’
‘The children of Moloch,’ Madame Lillith wailed and pressed her fists to the side of her head. ‘Devourers of flesh and spirit. They’ll destroy us all.’
‘Echolites don’t normally come up to these levels of the caves,’ Sally gasped.
‘It’s her,’ Spinorix snapped. ‘Coming and going all the time with things she’s stolen. It’s bound to draw them.’ He dashed across to the trolley and started piling all the artefacts from the floor on to it. ‘We’ve got to get away,’ he panted as he grabbed the mirror and tried to prop it against the side of the ossified torso that stood on the trolley.
Madame Lillith continued with her pitiful whimpering. She was rocking back and forth. Edgy could see her fingers knitting and weaving together. Did she really try to kill me? He placed a hand on her shoulder. She turned and shook it away.
‘Get off me,’ she glowered at him, her face like a wrinkled old turnip, the hatred etched into it. ‘I ’ate you, Edgy Taylor, with yer friends an’ yer cushy job an’ Mr Janus fawnin’ all over yer.’ She pointed at the effigy. ‘I ’ave no one, apart from ’im.’
Friends? Edgy glanced at Sally, pale and grim, and Spinorix, scrabbling once more with the junk on the trolley. She was right. Even if they did argue, they’d come to save him. He’d never had friends before. He looked from the withered, grimacing Madame Lillith to her ‘friend’. The one she had made out of the bits and pieces stolen from the collection.
‘Is that why you tried to kill me?’ Edgy asked, narrowing his eyes. ‘Cos you were jealous?’
The shrivelled demon gave a snort. ‘I never,’ she hissed and then leered at Edgy. ‘Wish I ’ad, though.’
‘Never mind that,’ Spinorix squeaked in terror. ‘We must get away – now!’
He wrestled with the trolley, which lurched forward an inch, sending its contents sliding from the ramshackle heap on to the floor again and an avalanche of clutter on top of him. For a second all fell silent.
A distant quavering note drifted into the cavern. A single, beautiful voice echoing around the chamber. Madame Lillith gave a shriek but the song had begun its charm. Edgy felt the familiar calm start to spread over him. Henry gave a bark.
Then Sally slapped his cheek.
‘Don’t listen,’ she yelled, tearing a strip of cloth from her petticoat. She snatched up an old candlestick from the pile. ‘Here,’ she said, rolling the wax from inside the stick around in her palms. ‘The song doesn’t affect me – I’m dead already. But you . . .’
She grabbed Edgy’s head and stuffed the wax into his ears. The singing stopped. Edgy could hear nothing apart from the blood thundering in his head. Sally waved the cloth from her petticoat and her mouth moved.
‘What?’ Edgy bellowed.
Sally rolled her eyes to the ceiling and wrapped the strip of cloth around his head. Spinorix fumbled with half a candle, trying to soften its wax to fit it into his large, floppy ears.
Edgy grabbed Madame Lillith by her scaly arm. ‘We’ve got to run!’ he shouted.
‘No!’ Madame Lillith shrieked back. Edgy could hear her despite the wax in his ears. ‘I don’t need your stinkin’ help!’ She wrenched her arm from his grip and scurried across the cavern towards the door with amazing speed.
‘After ’er, quick!’ Edgy boomed.
Spinorix dragged at the handle of the trolley with all his might, his feet skidding on the rock floor of the cavern. Edgy gave a growl of exasperation and snatched the skull of Aldorath by its curved horns and the imp by his ear.
‘But we can’t just leave it all!’ Spinorix whined, scrabbling for Argus’s eyes as they rolled out of the skull’s sockets. Henry gave a yelp and pounced on one, Spinorix grabbed the other.
‘There’s a whole network of tunnels down here. The Echolites will come from all directions. We’ll be trapped in here,’ Sally snapped, pinching Spinorix’s elbow and marching him towards the door with Edgy. ‘The singing is getting louder. We have to run!’
Edgy’s whole body ached as he pounded through the cavern door and out into the darkness of the tunnels. His breath rumbled through his throbbing head, amplified by the fact that his ears were bunged up. The world seemed strange, devoid of any external sound. Sally ran ahead and he could see her pale outline in the dark. She was shouting something but he couldn’t make it out. Free of Edgy’s grip, Spinorix scurried alongside him. But Sally skidded to a halt so quickly that Edgy ran into her, catching Spinorix with his elbow and sending him sprawling to the floor. Henry scampered back and hid behind Edgy’s heel.
And then he saw Madame Lillith.
She stood in the centre of the tunnel, swaying to and fro. Her eyes looked drowsy, heavy lidded, and a slight smile played across her thin, cracked lips. Even with his ear plugs, Edgy caught some higher notes of the Echolites’ song and shuddered.
He froze.
Edgy twitched, barely able to breathe at the sight before him. Above Madame Lillith stood the strangest and the most hideous creature Edgy had ever seen. Like an enormous spider composed of bone, its fat, bloated body was poised on eight long and delicate legs. Each leg ended in a sharp point. The Echolite bobbed slightly in time with Madame Lillith. In time with its own deadly song. Thick hairs poked out of the creature’s parchment-thin skin like black spines. Edgy’s flesh prickled. A human head poked out of the front of its body. It had a man’s face screwed up in an expression of agony. Its mouth opened and closed with the words of its song.
And then it went still.
Its lips stopped moving.
Madame Lillith swayed for a couple of seconds and then her eyes flickered as if she were waking from a dream. Edgy stood mesmerised, the blood thumping through his skull. Madame Lillith looked up and let out a chilling scream. The Echolite’s mouth opened too, but from it came a long, bony needle, like another leg only much thinner. It flashed down, striking Madame Lillith in the temple and puncturing her head. She stood transfixed by the long spine that slowly turned from a creamy yellow into a pink then red.
Edgy felt the bile rise in his throat. The creature was sucking the very blood and brains from Madame Lillith. Edgy watched in horror as her cheeks sank and her body slowly crumpled like a deflated balloon. Soon only a few scraps remained of the envious demon.
‘Come on, Henry,’ Edgy called and turned to run.
Two more Echolites scuttled out of the darkness, cutting off their escape route, the tips of their bony legs clicking horribly on the rock floor. Edgy could see the faces of an old man and a boy hideously grafted on to the front of the monsters.
‘We’re trapped,’ he said.
Henry gave a whining growl as, step by step, the Echolites closed in on them.
She stooped down unto the ground,
To pluck the rose so red.
The thorn it pierced her to the heart,
And this fair maid was dead.
‘Dead Maid’s Land’, traditional folk song
Chapter Twenty-Four
Cornered
The Echolites clicked forward. Edgy looked at Sally, desperately trying to think of something that could get them out of this corner. But Sally looked as helpless as Edgy felt. He could see the Echolites’ mouths moving. If he took out his ear plugs, the song would soothe him. He wouldn’t be so afraid.
Spinorix fell to his knees. ‘I don’t want to die,’ he sobbed. ‘I don’t want that . . . thing to steal my face!’
The first Echolite gave a fierce grin, stolen from Madame Lillith.
Edgy hurled himself at it, flailing the skull in a circular arc. ‘Get back!’ he screamed. Henry barked and howled. Edgy squeezed his eyes shut and swung the skull again, blind and deaf, spinning towards his own destruction, waiting for the horns to clatter ineffectively against the spiny shins.