The Londum Omnibus Volume One (The Londum Series Book 4)

by Tony Rattigan

  Adele hastily translated for Cobb and then looked at him aghast. ‘That means they were-’

  He put his hand on her arm, ‘Don’t go there … just … don’t go there.’

  ‘And now you will pay for his death.’ Kayla groaned as if in pain and began to physically change before them. Everyone fell back, knocking over the chairs in their eagerness to get away.

  People ran screaming from the great hall as she changed into the beast of which they were all afraid but some people, Cobb and Adele amongst them, were transfixed at the spectacle before them.

  When the transformation was complete, she glared round at the crowd and roared at them. She took several long strides and then launched herself through the air at Yuli.

  Cobb went to block her but Jim beat him to it. As Kayla leapt through the air, he threw himself at her and the two of them crashed to the floor and rolled over, knocking chairs aside in their struggle.

  At first Jim had some advantage from the impetus with which he had hit her but soon her superior weight and strength made a difference and she pinned him to the ground and buried her muzzle into his shoulder.

  Cobb picked up a chair and smashed it across her back, causing her to rear up and snarl at him. At this moment, Won Lungh stepped in and grabbed her by her mane. With his free hand, he reached up under the back of his jacket and pulled out a bladed weapon, similar to a meat cleaver. He put his foot in the small of her back and leaning back he used his weight to drag her head back, exposing her neck. With one quick swipe he beheaded her. Won Lungh held up the head to show the crowd that she was dead and then threw it to the ground with disgust.

  Together, Cobb and Won Lungh manhandled the headless corpse off Jim and dragged it to one side. Then they bent down to look at Jim’s wounds, Jim had passed out. Beside them the corpse began to change back until it had returned to that of a naked, headless female. Zelda stepped forward and draped her cloak over Kayla’s body.

  Adele brushed Cobb and Won Lungh aside and examined Jim. Zelda joined her. Adele used her scarf to wipe away the blood and there, quite clearly amongst the torn flesh, were Kayla’s teeth marks.

  ‘That’s it then … he’s been bitten,’ said Zelda. They both knew what that meant; Zelda had explained it to her in the forest. If you were scratched by a werewolf then you could recover from it, unharmed. But if you were bitten, then you would surely turn into a werewolf yourself.

  Yuli and Mira stepped forward. ‘Guards … take him to one of the bedrooms, see that he is looked after,’ Yuli commanded.

  ‘Your Grace,’ Zelda interrupted, ‘he has the mark of the wolf on him, he has been bitten. We all know what that means. He should be confined to a dungeon for his own … for everyone’s safety.’

  Mira sobbed but the Yuli took to her new position well. ‘Very well, guards take him to one of the dungeons but see that he is given every comfort.’ Then she added resignedly, ‘And make sure there are two men outside his door at all times.’

  As the guards brought a stretcher and carried Jim off, watched over by Adele and Zelda, Jim and Won Lungh followed them down to the dungeons. The mayor took charge and dismissing the townsfolk, arranged for Kayla’s body to be taken away.

  ***

  Several hours later they were all standing in one of the dungeons looking down at Jim’s unconscious body. He seemed to be suffering from a fever, he constantly sweated and he moaned occasionally under his breath.

  The guards had taken Duchess Yuli literally and brought down one of the beds from the state bedrooms and all the finest bedclothes. Zelda had mixed a poultice and Adele had applied it when she had dressed his wounds. The doctor had left some time before, declaring there was nothing he could do for Jim; it was now in the hands of the witches.

  What can we do for him?’ asked Adele.

  ‘Pray to whatever Gods you believe in. Apart from that, nothing I’m afraid,’ replied Zelda. ‘I’ve seen this many times before, seventy-two hours after being bitten, his infection will be complete. The curse will have thoroughly taken over his system and at the next full moon … he will start to kill.’

  ‘But surely there is something you can do,’ Cobb asked her. ‘What about that poultice you made?’

  ‘Just something to ease the pain I’m afraid and try to keep down the fever. It is not a cure … there is no cure.’

  ‘When is the next full moon?’ asked Adele.

  Cobb shrugged but Zelda almost reluctantly replied, ‘A week from now.’

  ‘So what do we do now?’ Cobb asked the room in general.

  ‘Leave him to get some rest tonight, the more he keeps his strength up the better he may be able to fight it,’ replied Zelda. ‘It’s getting dark so I should be getting back to camp now.’

  ‘Very well then,’ said Duchess Yuli, ‘someone should watch over him tonight.’

  ‘I’ll do it,’ said Cobb before anyone else could speak. ‘I owe it to him.’

  ‘I should stay too,’ said Mira.

  ‘No Mira, we have much to do now that Luga has gone and I rule Pils-Holstein,’ replied the duchess. ‘We have a country to run and I need your assistance, come now, Jim is in good hands.’

  Zelda left and Mira and Yuli withdrew also.

  Adele said to Cobb, ‘If you are going to stay I must insist that you stay outside the locked door, there’s no telling how Jim might behave in his condition.’

  ‘If you really think …’

  ‘I do,’ she said firmly. ‘I’ll come back with some food in a while.’

  ***

  Cobb did as Adele wished, retreated outside the dungeon and closed the door behind him but he opened the viewing hatch so he could watch over his friend. When Adele came down later with some food, she found him standing outside, staring through the hatch. The guards had retreated respectfully to the end of the corridor to give him some privacy. Adele left the food and went up to bed.

  Jim tossed and turned restlessly on his bed, engulfed by the fever. This went on for several hours until to Cobb’s surprise Jim sat up suddenly in bed. He looked wildly about him. Cobb called to him but Jim either ignored him or couldn’t hear him. He threw back the bedclothes and put his bare feet on the floor. Adele had removed his shoes and socks as well as his shirt when she had put him to bed.

  Jim stood up and went to the window and began pulling on the bars. When this didn’t get him anywhere he ran his hands over the walls and began a slow circuit of the room as if checking for a way out. It was if he was sleepwalking. When he reached the door Cobb spoke to him but he was totally oblivious to him, he pulled on the bars and the door handle as if he could not even hear or see Cobb.

  Cobb looked into Jim’s eyes as he struggled with the door. They were wild and frantic, darting from side to side as if searching for something. Cobb noticed that the whites of his eyes had a reddish tinge to them. He had seen that eye colour before, on the werewolf in Londum. Oh Jim, he thought to himself, what are you becoming?

  Jim gave up trying to open the door, Cobb had locked it, and returned to running his hands over the walls. When this proved fruitless he began pacing the dungeon. From time to time he would go to the window and stare out into the night, then begin pacing again.

  Cobb watched anxiously from the door as his friend eventually lay down again on the bed and passed into a troubled sleep. Several times during the night this re-occurred, Jim would wake and pace the room looking for a way out, finally falling back into a restless, turbulent sleep.

  This went on throughout the night, the guards came and went as the shift changed but Cobb remained. Finally dawn broke and as the first rays of daylight shone through the bars of the dungeon window, Jim’s nightmare demons seemed to leave him and he slumped into a deep coma like sleep.

  Cobb sat down in a chair and rubbed his face, it had been a long night watching his friend suffer. Hopefully, now that daylight was here, it was over for the time being. He sat there for a long time, struggling to stay awake. His eyelids were beginning to
droop when he heard Jim calling to him.

  ‘Cobb … Cobb! What’s going on? Where am I?’

  Cobb stood up wearily and went to speak to him. ‘You’re in a dungeon. We had to put you in here after you were bitten… for your own safety,’ he ended lamely.

  ‘I remember now. Kayla was attacking Yuli. Is she all right?’

  ‘Yes, Won Lungh managed to kill Kayla before she could hurt anyone, except you that is,’ replied Cobb.

  Jim said, ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘She bit you before we could kill her.’

  Jim looked down at his chest where the bandaging had come loose from all his thrashing about. As he pulled it aside Cobb gasped. There were only scars, the wound had closed and was healing rapidly.

  ‘Jim, yesterday that was an open wound.’

  ‘What does this mean?’ asked Jim.

  ‘I think it means that you are developing the regenerative powers of a werewolf.’

  They were both silent for a moment as the truth of the situation sank in. ‘I guess that explains the dreams,’ said Jim. ‘I was in the woods, out under the open skies, chasing something. I couldn’t see what it was but I could sense it, smell it and I wanted to eat it. Then I was trapped in some sort of cave and I couldn’t get out, it was awful.’

  ‘Jim, I’m sorry, I don’t know what to say …’

  ‘How long have I got?’

  ‘The witch, Zelda, reckons you’ve got seventy-two hours from when you were bitten … that was yesterday.’

  Jim brought his face up close to the bars in the viewing hatch in the door and stared into Cobb’s eyes. ‘You know Cobb, people in our sort of professions don’t make too many friends but I would like to think that we have become good friends, wouldn’t you say?’

  ‘Yes, that’s true, we have,’ replied Cobb.

  ‘Good, because I’m going to ask you to do something that only one friend could ask another.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘I want you to kill me.’

  ‘I can’t do that!’

  ‘You must. You know what will happen to me. In a couple of days I will be as much of a werewolf as Luga was. I’ll be a danger to everyone around me. And think of the thing I’ll become, the things I’ll do, I won’t be able to help myself. You can’t let me live like that. I’d rather you ended it now quickly and cleanly. You’ve got your gun, do it now, one shot to the head and it’s over.’

  ‘But Jim, you don’t know what you’re asking-’

  ‘Yes I do! And that’s why I asking you. I’m asking you to let me die like a man instead of having to be hunted down and shot like a dog.’

  ‘Jim, I’m too tired to think clearly, I can’t make a decision like that right now. Let me get some sleep and we’ll talk later. You’ll be all right now that it’s daylight. I’ll have the guards bring you some food. See you later.’

  He turned and strode down the corridor, Jim calling after him.

  ‘Cobb, you can’t leave me like this. Come back and finish it now, I beg you. Cobb! Cobb!’

  Cobb left the dungeons without looking back. He arranged to have some food sent down to Jim then he went and found Adele. She had been put up in one of the state bedrooms and was just finishing her breakfast as Cobb came in the room.

  ‘You look exhausted. How’s Jim?’

  ‘He’s definitely got the curse. His wounds have nearly healed up.’ Cobb sat down and picked up some bread and cheese. For some reason he couldn’t meet her eye.

  ‘What is it, Cobb?’

  ‘He wants me to kill him.’

  ‘Oh Gods! Don’t do it. Listen, I’m going to go back to Zelda’s camp today and try and find a cure with her.’

  ‘But she’s already said there is no cure.’

  ‘I know but we have to try something. You go and get some rest and I’ll come back later.’

  Cobb finished his cheese and went over to the bed. He took his coat off and then sat down and removed his boots.

  ‘We’ll get through this,’ said Adele then she kissed him goodbye.

  Cobb said nothing, just lay down on the bed and closed his eyes.

  ***

  Adele and Zelda sat by the fire, drinking tea and talking. The whole camp was in a sombre mood because of Jim, who had become regarded as the hero of the hour due to the way he had saved Yuli. Him being wounded like this and facing an awful future seemed to affect everybody. Even Fell wasn’t his usual flippant self and just sat there, moodily staring into the fire.

  ‘So tell me again about what happens when someone is bitten by a werewolf,’ asked Adele.

  Zelda puffed thoughtfully on her pipe for a moment and then replied. ‘Well, at first the victim falls unconscious for a time, from the pain and the blood loss. It must also be a shock to the system as the infection enters the body. Then over the next few days it spreads throughout the body, slowly transforming the tissue bit by bit until, seventy-two hours later, he is no longer human, he only looks human.’

  ‘So you’re saying it spreads like gangrene or blood poisoning?’

  Zelda nodded. ‘Yes and we’ve tried to treat it like that, drinking herbal remedies, applying poultices, bloodletting, but none of it ever works.’

  ‘Why does silver kill them, how does it work?’

  ‘I can only assume that there is something dark and evil in their physical make-up that reacts to the pure element of silver,’ explained Zelda, in the way she understood it.

  Or maybe it is the antibacterial properties of silver, thought Adele. ‘So if one big bit of silver can kill a big werewolf, then maybe very small bits of silver can kill very small bits of werewolf.’

  ‘What are you talking about?’ Zelda asked her.

  ‘I’m not sure … I’m still thinking this through. Do you know about Vaccinations and Anti-biotics?’

  Zelda stared at her for a moment and then said, ‘I’m a gypsy and I live in the woods, what do you think?’

  ‘I’m sorry, yes of course. It’s about injecting someone with a substance that will fight the disease that is already present in the body. Now then, you say that once someone has been bitten, it spreads through the body like an infection; maybe we can treat it that way, as if it were an infection. The germs are carried around the body and we inject a cure into the patient. The cure then hunts down those germs and destroys them. What if we were to inject some silver into Jim? Minute particles of silver which would be carried around the body by his bloodstream and they would destroy each “werewolf germ” as they come across it.’

  ‘And where would we get these minute particles of silver?’ asked Zelda, ‘there’s no silver in this entire country, Luga saw to that.’

  ‘Well it doesn’t have to be solid silver, it just has to have silver in it … wait a minute … it doesn’t have be solid silver. I think I’m onto something. Do you have a photographer in town?’

  ‘Sure, he’s called Herr Klick. Why? What are you thinking of?’

  ‘When I said it doesn’t have to be solid silver it got me thinking about liquid silver, Silver Nitrate usually comes in a liquid form,’ Adele explained. ‘And it is used by photographers to make photographs. It’s unlikely that Luga would have thought of that so maybe they didn’t confiscate it! Quick, we have to get into town.’

  Zelda stood up and shouted over to the others grouped around their fire, ‘Quickly, get me a carriage, I need to go into town.’ Then to Adele she said,’ I’ll pack some things and bring them along, they may come in useful’

  ***

  Cobb sat up on the bed, he felt like he hadn’t slept at all although the sun was high. He got up and went over to the washstand. Pouring out some water into the bowl, he splashed it onto his face to wake himself up. His eyes kept being drawn back to his gun, on the table next to the bed.

  His mind had obviously kept working on what Jim had asked him to do, while he was asleep he reckoned, because he had come to a decision. He couldn’t tell anyone about it or they would stop him from carrying out his plan
. He just hoped Adele would understand.

  After he finished drying himself he got dressed. He picked up the gun, checked the chambers were full and put it in his pocket. Then he left the room heading for the dungeon.

  When he reached the dungeon he saw Mira standing at the cell door, holding Jim’s hand through the hatch. The guards had withdrawn to the end of the corridor to give them some privacy. Cobb waited patiently until Mira and Jim finished talking. They kissed goodbye and then Mira walked tearfully past Cobb and went back up into the castle.

  He gave her time to leave and then walked over to the guards.

  ‘It’s okay, you two can leave now. I’ll take care of things here.’

  ‘Sorry sir, our orders from the Grand Duchess are to remain on guard here.’

  Cobb casually pulled the gun from his pocket and pointed it at them. ‘Leave … now!’ he ordered.

  ‘But sir-’ one of them sputtered.

  ‘GO AWAY!!’

  They didn’t need any more persuading, they headed for the stairs leading out of the dungeons.

  Cobb put his gun back in his pocket and walked over to Jim’s cell. The key was hanging up next to it and he unlocked the door. He swung the door open and walked into the cell.

  ‘Is that a gun in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me?’ asked Jim.

  ‘It’s a gun,’ replied Cobb.

  ‘So I assume you’ve agreed to carry out my request.’

  ‘Yes, I’m sorry Jim but you’re right. There is no other way and it’ll be better like this.’

  ‘Thanks Cobb, I knew that when the chips were down I could rely on you. And don’t blame yourself, you’re helping me out.’

  ‘Do you want a blindfold or anything?’ asked Cobb.

  ‘Nah, that’s all right. I always said that when I face death I want to be standing on my own two feet, eyes wide open.’ He stood in front of Cobb, took a deep breath, squared his shoulders and nodded to Cobb.

  Cobb raised his gun arm and sighted down the barrel to Jim’s forehead. ‘May the Gods forgive me,’ he said.