The Demon Collector

by Jon Mayhew

  Then all was still.

  Edgy could hear the engines pounding and the groans of the crew. The deck remained at a crazy angle. He pulled himself to his feet and peered over the side of the ship.

  The island of ice had risen underneath them, grounding the stern of the ship and pushing its front into the sea. Water ran in rivers down the side of the island, pouring down on to the men on deck and into the heart of the ship. Steam boiled out of the ship’s funnel, shrouding the deck.

  ‘We’ve found it, Edgy!’ Janus said, clapping his hands with glee.

  ‘But, Mr Janus, we’re trapped on the ice an’ –’ Edgy began.

  ‘Yes, yes, yes,’ Janus tutted, a scowl flitting across his face. ‘First things first. We must explore the island.’

  ‘You’re not goin’ anywhere,’ McFarland said, stepping in front of him, a wall of angry-looking men behind him, all steadying themselves on the ridiculous tilt of the deck. The mist that closed around the ship made grey silhouettes of them in the eerie half-reflected moonlight.

  Captain Boyd and Mauldeth were pushed through the crowd of sailors that had gathered on the main deck and sent stumbling next to Edgy and Janus.

  ‘This is insubordination, McFarland,’ the captain said, his voice calm and quiet. ‘What d’you think you’re playing at?’

  ‘Beggin’ yer pardon, captain, but the men aren’t happy,’ McFarland said, glancing from one sailor to the next. ‘We want some answers.’

  ‘Answers? Can’t it wait?’ Captain Boyd’s voice rose a little. Edgy could see the back of his neck going red just above his cravat. ‘In case you hadn’t noticed, the ship has just been grounded.’

  ‘That may be, captain,’ McFarland said, ‘and we’ll attend to that soon enough. But the men are worried. All this ain’t natural – islands risin’ up out of the sea. There’s been talk of demons too.’

  Boyd let out a snort of derision. ‘Demons?’ he scoffed. ‘You are a seaman on-board a modern steamship and you talk of demons?’

  ‘That Professor Janus, he was talkin’ about demons to the boy,’ grunted a man behind McFarland. The crowd murmured.

  ‘And look at this,’ said one of the seamen, reaching forward and snatching Edgy’s book in his huge brown hand. ‘It says Everyday . . . Daemon . . . ol . . . ogie. Or a Demon a Day!’

  The crew hissed and began chattering excitedly. Someone came up from below with an armful of Janus’s books.

  ‘Put those down – they’re priceless.’ Janus ran at the man but arms snaked out from the crush of sailors, pinning him. ‘Let me go!’ he bellowed. ‘This is an outrage.’

  McFarland took a book from the man and leafed through it, his skeletal features fixed in a frown. Edgy thought he could see him tremble a little as he held the book.

  ‘Ye gods, would ye look at this,’ he said, holding the book open.

  Edgy glimpsed the words Moloch and heart, followed by Salomé and Satan. But it was the images that struck home. Satan pinned Moloch to the ground, his mouth twisted into a triumphant leer, a dripping heart beating in his hand. A babe lay on a stone altar, naked and helpless. Salomé towered over it, a long spiral blade in her hand, her green eyes flashing as she prepared to plunge the blade down.

  ‘No!’ Janus yelled, lunging forward so suddenly that he broke free. He crashed into McFarland, sending him sprawling and the book whirling across the deck. Uproar broke out as men pounced on Janus, dragging him back.

  ‘Enough!’ Captain Boyd barked. ‘We’ve enough to deal with as it is. I’ll not have it. D’you hear me? Not while I’m captain of this ship.’

  McFarland dragged himself to his feet and wiped blood from his mouth with the back of his hand. ‘Then we’ll have to relieve you of that duty, sir,’ he hissed. ‘You said the mission was a scientific survey, but judging by these books it’s evil and we’ll have no part in it.’ He nodded and Edgy found himself grabbed and held. Burly arms grabbed Boyd, Mauldeth and Janus too.

  ‘Look around you, McFarland. We need to get this ship free somehow,’ Mauldeth said coldly. ‘Turning against us won’t help matters.’

  ‘We’re not fools, your lordship,’ McFarland said. ‘Whatever you’re seekin’, it drove yon Mr Sokket mad and has brought ill fortune on this ship. I’ll not stand by an’ watch any more shipmates put in peril.’

  ‘This is insubordination,’ Boyd shouted, struggling against the two men holding him. ‘You’ll hang for this!’

  ‘I’d rather hang than burn in the fiery pits of hell for all eternity,’ McFarland said. He looked down at Edgy. ‘I’m sorry it had to come to this, lad.’

  A strange chirping sound echoed across the bay.

  Edgy raised his hand. ‘Listen,’ he whispered.

  Everyone fell silent. The mist had thickened and blew across the deck. The only sound was the slow, pulsing hiss of the engine deep in the heart of the ship.

  And the eerie sound again.

  Edgy shuddered – the sound grated on him. It seemed to seep out of the mist from all directions.

  ‘What is it?’ McFarland murmured.

  As if in answer to his question, a pointed snout on the end of a long, slender neck loomed out of the mist. Row upon row of needle teeth grinned at them and bulbous luminescent eyes glowed with a malevolent hunger. The narrow jaws clamped into the shoulder of a nearby sailor and whipped him up into the mist.

  Edgy and the rest of the crew stood stunned, not believing what they had seen, and then the sailors’ screams snapped them back to reality. Blood splattered down on the deck like rain. Edgy felt its warmth on his cheek and grimaced.

  ‘Leviathan,’ hissed Janus.

  And then the deck erupted into chaos as heads darted down, snatching man after man, snapping and tearing with razor teeth. Edgy scanned the ship for a place of safety. But there was none.

  It is too pale for that old grey mare.

  Pray, son, now tell to me.

  It is the blood of my youngest brother

  That hoed that corn for me.

  What did you fall out about?

  Pray, son, now tell to me.

  Because he cut yon holly bush

  Which might have made a tree.

  ‘Edward’, traditional folk ballad

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  The Sinking of The Maggot

  Men ran across the deck, huddling behind barrels, pulling tarpaulins over themselves, anything to get under cover, uncertain where the next attack would come from. With a splintering of wood, the mainmast came crashing down, pinning an unfortunate seaman. Almost immediately a drooling snout plunged down out of the mist towards him. Edgy turned his head away from the screams and fell to his knees, grabbing Everyday Daemonologie from the blood-splattered deck. The book felt warm and strangely comforting.

  McFarland scurried up the deck towards the stern, barging past Janus and leaping over the back of the ship on to the island of ice.

  ‘Edgy!’ Janus called. He too had run up to the stern and was now busy stuffing The Legends of Moloch into his shoulder bag, oblivious to the slaughter that continued around him. ‘We have to get off the ship. The safest way is up.’ He pointed to the steps that wound up the side of the island peak and vanished into the mist.

  Edgy scrambled to his feet and froze.

  A pointed head bobbed in front of him. The Leviathan’s nostril slits blew sea foam and putrid slime in his face as it sniffed at Edgy. Its teeth packed its mouth, forcing it into a wicked smile. Edgy panted, his breath condensing on the monster’s gory snout. Lumps of flesh, fabric and wood poked from between the Leviathan’s teeth. Edgy’s heart hammered at his ribs as the creature drooled blood and swayed inches from his face. It slid forward, letting out a low, menacing hiss.

  Edgy fell back, sobbing. This is it. It’s going to eat me, he thought, catching his breath. Any second now he would be yanked into the air and torn apart.

  A sudden rush of air startled Edgy from his paralysis. An axe buried itself in the side of the monster’s neck,
making it rear up, screeching with fury.

  Captain Boyd appeared by his side, a pistol in his hand. ‘Run, Edgy!’ he yelled, pushing him aside.

  ‘Thank you, captain,’ Edgy gasped.

  ‘You’re welcome. Now you get to shore. I’ll not go down without a fight,’ Boyd snapped, pushing him towards the stern of the ship.

  Edgy staggered on, tripping and stumbling. He glanced back to see Boyd balanced on the shattered mast, pistol pointed skywards.

  ‘Come and get me, you evil devil,’ he howled.

  The pistol roared, the creature screamed and a head crashed down on to the deck, the light in its eyes dying. Boyd quickly fumbled with the pistol, desperate to reload. Another of the Leviathan’s heads lowered itself down level with the captain.

  Boyd stopped struggling with the gun. ‘Oh well,’ he murmured.

  And the Leviathan snapped its jaws forward, whipping him up into the mist with a roar.

  Edgy screwed his eyes shut. Boyd was gone.

  The ship gave a shudder and Edgy looked round. The Leviathan had dragged itself half out of the water, over the bow, ten of its heads clamped on to the railings and fittings of the ship. Other heads snaked to and fro, snapping at fleeing seamen. Slowly it heaved on the bulk of the ship, dragging it into the sea. The Maggot groaned in protest as its timber splintered and cracked on the ice but it slowly began to move.

  Edgy turned back and scrambled up towards Janus, who now clung precariously to the stern railing of the ship. More cargo, barrels and boxes bounced and lurched towards Edgy, making him swerve left and right as the ship tilted further. He threw himself at Janus, who grabbed his arm at the elbow.

  Others had obviously heeded Janus’s advice and clambered over the stern rails of the ship and slid down its exposed hull on to the island of ice. Janus climbed up on to the railing and wobbled, waving his hands to steady himself. Then he beckoned to Edgy, reaching out to him. Edgy climbed up beside him and looked down.

  ‘We have to slide down, Edgy. It’s our only hope,’ Janus yelled over the grating of steel as the Leviathan tore at the funnel, ripping a huge chunk from it.

  Edgy shook his head. He wasn’t sure he could.

  The ship juddered again as the Leviathan struck at it. More men screamed from the bow of the ship.

  ‘Edgy!’ Lord Mauldeth clung to the splintered stump of the mainmast at the back of the main deck. A beam of wood pinned his legs to the bloody deck. His face was blackened with soot from the shattered funnel and blood trickled down his brow.

  ‘Mr Janus,’ Edgy said. ‘It’s Lord Mauldeth. He’s your brother – we have to save him!’

  Janus pursed his lips and frowned, pausing and looking back.

  ‘Mr Janus, we can’t leave him,’ Edgy gasped, grabbing his sleeve.

  ‘Edgy!’ Mauldeth called again. ‘Beware. He’s after . . .’

  The whole ship lurched and the rest of Mauldeth’s words were lost as Janus gave Edgy a sharp shove, sending him slithering down the hull of the ship. He bounced and rolled as his clothes snagged and caught on the rough surface. The sounds of rending steel and fracturing timber filled his ears as the ship slid away from him. For a moment, he fell free of the ship, the cold air whipping his cheeks. Then he gasped as he landed on the compacted ice.

  Edgy watched as the Leviathan dragged Lord Byron’s Maggot into the sea. Steam boiled and waves steadily pounded the shore of the island as the ship sank into the foaming water. A few heads snaked about, snapping up floundering sailors who had jumped into the water at the last moment. Then both the Leviathan and the ship vanished, leaving nothing but a bubbling black stain on the surface.

  ‘Lord Mauldeth,’ Edgy gasped. He couldn’t believe it. Everything had happened so quickly. Tears froze on his cheek.

  ‘Come along now, Edgy. Stiff upper lip,’ Janus said, stretching and dusting ice from his trousers.

  ‘But he’s dead,’ Edgy said. ‘Your brother. He’s dead. Don’t you feel sad?’

  A shadow crossed Janus’s face and his mouth tightened. ‘If we’d gone to save him, we’d be down there now too,’ he muttered. He turned his back on Edgy. ‘Come on, let’s get up these steps before that beast comes back.’

  Edgy glanced around at the shore of the island. Every­where the blue ice reflected the moonlight. His breath plumed in the frozen air as he pulled his jacket tighter.

  ‘That’s far enough, Mr Janus,’ Silky McFarland called. Edgy spun round. McFarland stood with two other sailors by the water’s edge, a vicious knife in his grasp. ‘You’re not goin’ anywhere.’

  ‘Fool!’ Janus spat. ‘Do you suggest we just stand here and wait for that monster to return?’

  ‘If it stops you goin’ up those stairs, that’ll do me,’ McFarland said.

  ‘You’re in her employment, aren’t you?’ Janus hissed.

  ‘Aye, I was told it’d be worth my while watchin’ over the boy,’ McFarland said. ‘An’ if I stop you from goin’ up those steps then she’ll rescue me from certain death here.’

  ‘Salomé paid you to protect me?’ Edgy said, frowning. ‘It don’t make any sense.’

  ‘Maybe not,’ McFarland said, ‘but I did a damned good job, laddie –’

  An explosion of water and oil behind McFarland cut short any response. The Leviathan burst out of the sea, snapping up the two seamen behind him before they could even scream. McFarland threw himself forward, another set of jaws smashing down into the ice just behind him.

  Janus bundled Edgy towards the stairs, slipping on the ice.

  ‘Come back!’ McFarland yelled, racing towards them. Janus skidded, gasping as the air blew from his lungs.

  For a moment, McFarland towered over them, his knife raised to strike. And then he vanished, snatched away by the jaws of the sea monster. Edgy watched, mute as the sailor hurtled backwards, a trail of blood spattering the ice, marking his passage towards the sea. And then he too was gone.

  More heads reared from the icy waves. Janus had picked himself up but was still struggling for breath. Acting on instinct, Edgy dragged the gasping old man towards the steps. Teeth snapped the air behind him. The smell of blood and seawater surrounded them. Janus regained his breath somewhat and began to run alongside Edgy.

  ‘If we can get up the first few steps, we’ll be out of its reach,’ Janus panted. ‘It doesn’t seem keen to come out of the water.’

  There was no time to think as Janus pushed Edgy on to the first narrow step. Each step felt like polished glass under his feet. He slipped and stumbled against the wall of the mountain they were climbing. Higher and higher they staggered, leaving the Leviathan and the bloody ice behind.

  The mist had cleared up here and Edgy could see the stairs of ice twisting higher and higher up the side of the island. The wall to their left shone cold and white, offering no handhold or support. Edgy’s heart battered at his ribs with every slick step. He could hear Janus’s laboured breath, out of time and ragged.

  Further they climbed. The world became a narrow strip of white. Edgy kept his eyes on the wall side of the steps so as not to look down at the dizzying drop. His bulky clothes hampered him, making movement even more awkward. Sometimes the edges of the steps blurred into one, making him stumble and curse. The wind prodded him, whipping his breath away. Edgy’s body ached with the cold and his head began to spin. He squeezed his eyes shut and paused for a second.

  ‘Don’t stop, boy,’ Janus hissed behind him.

  Mist still shrouded the sea below. All Edgy knew was the black night sky above them and the wall of white that they clung to. Every individual step took an effort of concentration.

  ‘We’re nearly there,’ Janus said.

  Edgy risked a glance upward and saw a gaping dark-blue cave mouth above them. Another ten steps and Edgy threw himself to the ground at Janus’s feet. It felt so good to be off the treacherous stairs. Sitting up, he pressed his head to his knees, panting for breath. Far below, Edgy could see the black stain at the edge of the island –
all that was left of the ship. The sea stretched out to the distant curved horizon, eerily illuminated by starlight and ice.

  The cave entrance was dark and uninviting. Gripping the cave mouth, Edgy peered in and could see nothing but blackness. A sharp push sent him stumbling into the cave. He gave a scream as his feet found no floor. Suddenly, Edgy became weightless. The floor had vanished beneath his feet. He was sliding down a chute of blue ice.

  With a grunt of pain, he came to an abrupt halt as he hit the floor. He groaned and looked up. He hadn’t travelled far. The shock of the fall had been worse than the landing.

  Edgy dragged himself to his feet and looked around, gasping at the sight before him.

  See ye now that narrow road

  Up by yon tree?

  That’s the road the righteous goes,

  And that’s the road to heaven.

  An’ see ye now that broad road

  Down by yon sunny fell?

  That’s the road the wicked go,

  An’ that’s the road to hell.

  ‘The Queen of Elfan’s Nourice’, traditional folk ballad

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Moloch's Cave

  A cathedral of ice. Pillars soared above Edgy’s head to the ceiling, jagged with stalactites that pointed down like teeth ready to snap. The walls of the cavern pulsed with a cold, blue light, making everything as clear as daylight. Every now and then, a plop of dripping meltwater echoed in the silence.

  A demon stood encased in the ice of the wall. It dwarfed them. Its head reached the ceiling. Edgy’s heart hammered at his ribs until he thought it would explode. Anger and hatred twisted the creature’s face. Deep furrows carved their way across its green brow. Dark eyes glittered with an evil fire. Edgy shivered. It looked alive. Needle teeth filled the snarling mouth beneath its hooked nose. Its limbs bulged with sinew and muscle. Each claw in each thick finger stood as tall as a man. Every inch of the demon’s body looked built for violence.