The Mask of Destiny (16 page)

Ruby shook her head. ‘What does she see in him?' she said.

‘I think it's more what he sees in her,' Sam said. ‘If Gerald's in jail for murder I bet his parents get full control of everything.'

‘The DNA test came back positive,' Lethbridge said. ‘That blowgun they found in your room is the one used to kill Sir Mason Green, and it had your saliva on it.'

‘That's because the woman who broke into the house to steal the ruby planted it there,' Gerald said, ignoring Ruby's plea to keep his voice down. ‘I'm being set up.' Then a memory flashed into his head. ‘Hold on. You were the one who told her the ruby was there, you great numpty!'

Lethbridge's face went pale. ‘Not Charlotte?'

‘You
know
her?' It was Ruby's turn to ignore Gerald about the volume.

Lethbridge stiffened and sniffed back a tear. ‘I thought I did.' His left hand rubbed at his backside.

‘This is getting weird,' Sam said. Ruby shushed him as well.

‘Are you going to arrest us?' Gerald asked.

Lethbridge shook his head. ‘I don't know how you're going to convince Inspector Jarvis. He's like a dog with a bone on this one.'

Gerald swore to himself. ‘We've got to find Charlotte. It's the only way.' Then he looked back to the constable. ‘You better catch up with Walter and your French mate before they realise you've spent the last five minutes tying the laces on a pair of elastic-sided boots.'

A sharp voice shot into the church, like an arrow into a bullseye.

‘Are you all right, constable?'

Walter's brash accent seemed out of place in such a solemn setting. Gerald shrank back into the shadows. Lethbridge froze like a four-year-old caught with a handful of biscuits.

Gerald held his breath as his mother's life coach materialised over Lethbridge's shoulder like a wraith from the shadows.

‘Seen something?' Walter asked, his eyes sweeping the corners of the chancel like a bloodhound denied his dinner.

It was then that Sam sneezed—a nostril-blasting
WATSHOO!

Ruby flung her hand across Sam's nose and mouth.

Lethbridge's eyes sprang wide, then he too let fly with a moisture-soaked
WITASHEEOO
!

Walter studied the back of Lethbridge's head for a second. Gerald saw that Ruby was cutting off her brother's air supply. Sam batted her hand away.

Walter's eyes narrowed. ‘Bless you,' he said.

‘Thanks,' said Sam.

Gerald had to restrain Ruby from smothering Sam on the spot. But it was no use.

‘I knew it!' Walter cried, and he thrust an arm into the alcove. He gripped Gerald's shoulder like a vice, and dragged him across the flagstones. ‘Come out, you criminal.'

‘Let me go!' Gerald screamed. A jolt of pain shot down his spine. He kicked out, trying to connect. But every time he moved Walter tightened the vice. Gerald was sure his collarbone would snap at any second. It was agony.

‘You're coming with me,' Walter said. ‘Back to face justice, you little wrecking ball.'

Gerald kicked out again, but missed.

‘Your mother doesn't need her treatment to be bulldozed by you,' Walter said, wrenching another cry from Gerald. ‘She's at a very delicate stage.'

‘What?' Gerald said. ‘Hasn't she given you enough of my money yet?'

Walter's face darkened. He drew back his hand and was about to strike, when Lethbridge grabbed him by the wrist. Walter had rounded on the policeman, his face ablaze with rage, when there was a colossal
bong
. Walter's eyes rolled back in their sockets and his knees gave out. He sank to the floor, revealing Ruby standing behind him, one of the large brass incense burners swinging from a chain in her hands. She looked extremely pleased with herself.

‘Holy smoke,' Lethbridge said.

‘Look, I'm sorry Constable Lethbridge,' Gerald said, ‘but we're not coming with you.'

Lethbridge glanced at the still-smoking incense burner in Ruby's hand. ‘Fine by me,' he said nervously. ‘But where are you going to go?'

‘Even if we did know, I'm hardly going to tell you, am I?' Gerald said. ‘But you believe me, don't you? Charlotte is the one you should be after.'

‘What I believe don't count for nothing,' Lethbridge said. ‘Inspector Jarvis is the one you need to convince. And he'll be on your tail.'

A low groan came up from the floor. Walter was stirring.

‘You best be getting on,' Lethbridge said. ‘I'll look after this one.'

A shrill whistle blast pierced the church. Two French policemen appeared at the doors.

‘Thanks, constable,' Gerald said. ‘I owe you.'

Gerald vaulted over Walter just as he was sitting up, and a foot connected with his temple, sending the life coach slithering back to the flagstones.

Sam led the way out the northern transept. They emerged into the moonlight and found themselves in the cloisters surrounding a grassed rectangular courtyard. Doorways led off in half a dozen directions, and Sam disappeared through one on the far right. Ruby and Gerald plunged after him.

They burst into a dining hall with enough long wooden tables and benches to seat a thousand people. Gerald had no idea whether the French police were close behind them or had taken a different door, and he wasn't going to wait to find out.

A spiral staircase at the end of the dining hall disappeared to a lower level. They took the steps two at a time. The police whistle seemed to come at them from all directions. Sam ploughed ahead.

They reached the bottom of the stairs and stopped. They had lost the moonlight and the way forward was shrouded in shadow.

‘Now where?' Ruby whispered.

‘Head torches?' Sam said, shrugging his pack from his shoulders.

‘No batteries,' Ruby said. ‘Remember?'

Just when Gerald thought they might have to retrace their steps, he caught a spark of light from the corner of his eye.

‘Over there,' he pointed. ‘Is that a lamp?'

Deep into the gloom, a flickering yellow light seemed to beckon them. Gerald tugged the straps on his back-pack and set off across the room.

They found a hurricane lamp suspended from a stone column that had the girth of a sequoia. The lamp spilled a pool of golden light onto the floor. Then, further on, a doorway was suddenly illuminated in a similar hue.

‘Come on Hansel and Gretel,' Gerald said to Sam and Ruby. ‘Someone's leaving us a trail.'

They picked their way through the darkness, from lamp to lamp, through a maze of interconnecting rooms and dungeons deeper into the stone forest.

‘Is it the monks doing this?' Ruby whispered, sticking close to Gerald's elbow. ‘Leaving these lamps to mark the way?'

‘Well I don't think it's our evil stepmother,' Sam said. ‘Have you noticed that once we reach a new lantern the one behind us goes out?'

‘How would they even know who you are?' Ruby asked.

‘Maybe the guy who opened the door for us saw my ring and figured Lucius is my ancestor. Word would travel pretty quickly in a place like this.'

‘Do you have any idea where we are?' Ruby said. ‘They could be leading us anywhere.'

‘I guess we just have to trust whoever's doing this,' Gerald said. Deeper and deeper they crept, through arched openings and down damp corridors. Occasionally there was a distant blast on a whistle, but nearby the only sound was the clomp of their shoes across the stone floor. Finally they stopped under a lantern by a pair of heavy wooden doors.

‘We go through?' Gerald asked.

Sam looked over his shoulder. ‘It's darker than midnight back there. I don't think we have much choice.'

Gerald pulled on a door handle and the portal creaked open. A gust of sea air hit their faces. They were on an outer walkway, high up and overlooking the southern side of the island. Far below, a ribbon of lights marked the causeway that led back to the mainland.

‘That's our way out,' Gerald said. ‘Now we've just got to get down there.'

A flurry of movement caught his attention. A swirl of dark cloth disappeared around a corner of the ramparts.

‘Over there,' Gerald said. ‘It's one of the monks.' He darted to the corner, positive that he had seen a cloaked figure skirt around it. But when he got there, the corridor was deserted.

‘I'm sure there was someone,' Gerald said. ‘Someone must have been leading us this way. The monks must have recognised me: they must know about my link to Lucius and the casket. But why lead us to the heights of the abbey when we need to find a way out?'

And then he saw it.

A ramp—a stone ramp, not quite a metre wide, sloped steeply, very steeply, down the side of the castle, all the way to outside the city gates.

Ruby took one look at Gerald and bucked up.

‘It's not going to happen,' she said. ‘I am not going to climb down that thing. You know I hate heights.'

‘Come on, Ruby,' Sam said, peering over the lip of the castle wall and down the narrow buttress. ‘The police will be watching the gates. It's the perfect way to get around them.'

‘No way,' Ruby said. ‘I won't do it.' She folded her arms across her chest. ‘After what happened on the Tor at Glastonbury I swore I'd never risk a climb like that again. And I won't.'

Sam looked to Gerald, silently urging him to do something. Gerald thought for a second then took Ruby by the shoulders and spun her round to face him.

‘You know I'm a good climber,' he said. ‘I'll go first, then you and then Sam. I'll catch you if you fall.'

‘Fall!'

‘But you won't fall,' Gerald said. ‘Because I'll be with you. All the way.' In the pale moonlight their eyes connected.

Ruby looked at Gerald for a long time. Then she pulled him into a close hug. ‘Only because it's you,' she said, her cheek resting on his chest.

Gerald stared mortified over Ruby's shoulder at Sam, a ‘what's this all about?' expression on his face. Sam looked like he'd just discovered his sister was an alien with two heads and a set of gills.

‘Uh, we should probably get going then,' Gerald said, giving Ruby an awkward pat on the back. Ruby unwrapped her arms and had a quick peek down the length of the ramp. ‘I'm not happy about this,' she said.

‘You'll be fine,' Gerald said. ‘It's like climbing a ladder. One step at a time. Just don't look down.'

He sat on the ledge and looked out into the night. They were a long way up.

Gerald rolled to his stomach and eased his legs over the edge. The ramp was constructed from stone blocks, with a worn track either side of a central slab. The monks must have used it to haul things up to the abbey. It would beat carrying stuff up all those stairs, he thought. There was a deep notch between each block, perfect for fingers and toes to find purchase. It should be an easy climb down.

Gerald stopped after a few metres and called up to Ruby. ‘Your turn now,' he said. ‘Face the wall and take it slow. Use the cracks between the blocks like rungs on a ladder. It's easy as.'

Ruby nodded and lowered herself over the edge. Gerald could sense her fear.

But, step by step, Ruby edged down the ramp, keeping her eyes fixed on the rocks in front of her. Gerald waited until she was only a few blocks above him, then he set off again.

The breeze had strengthened and was starting to whip across the fortifications. Gerald tested each block with his foot, pushing down to make sure it would take his weight. Everything seemed secure.

Then a searchlight swept across the wall just below his feet.

Gerald froze.

‘Ruby,' he called. ‘Stop climbing.'

He craned his neck. Ruby was caught between rungs. One leg was stretched down with her toes wedged into the notch between the blocks. The other foot was still jammed into the stone above.

‘What is it?' Ruby whispered. ‘This isn't very comfortable.'

‘A searchlight,' Gerald said. ‘Coming from the top of the abbey.' As he spoke, a broad beam of intense white light swept just metres beneath them, picking out every crack and weed in the rock face.

‘We have to hurry,' Gerald said. ‘Ruby, when I say go, you have to come down to me as fast as you can. Okay?'

Gerald heard a grunted reply. The timing had to be perfect. He watched as the spotlight reached the far end of its arc, paused, then came again. This time the light was higher, scouring a path right towards him. He scrambled further down the ramp, like a spider down a drainpipe. His shoes knocked out rocks and pebbles, sending them into the void and scattering against the wall below like buckshot. Gerald glanced up to see the searchlight sweep across the blank space between him and Ruby.

‘Okay, Ruby,' he called up. ‘Your turn. On the count of three. One—'

Ruby fell.

Her lower foot slipped out of the notch and she lost her grip. Her shoes landed in the smooth tracks on the sides of the ramp and she set off in a scrambling slide down the wall. The searchlight on its return arc grazed the top of her head as she shot down the ramp, hands flailing in search of a hold.

Gerald had no time to process what was coming at him.

He braced his feet deep into a crevice and wrapped his knees around the stone slab as if it was a rodeo horse. A split second before Ruby tumbled into him he pushed off with his hands, forming a safety net with his torso and arms. He batted her feet off the tracks and she landed into the cup of his lap with a thud. Gerald groaned with the strain on his legs and flattened himself to the wall, wrapping himself over Ruby like a spider's web.

For a few seconds, the only sound was the wind buffeting against them. Gerald could feel Ruby's heart pounding through her back.

His head was right next to hers; her blonde hair was brushing his cheek. ‘You okay?' he whispered into her ear.

The screech of a passing seagull drowned out most of Ruby's reply, but Gerald was left in no doubt about how much rock climbing she would be doing in the near future.