The Wrath of the Lizard Lord (13 page)

‘Nakra a coward,’ Gog said, staring into the fire. ‘He lies in water, waiting.’

‘We need a few weapons,’ Dakkar said, sharpening a length of branch that he’d cut from a nearby tree with his machete. ‘I can use these instead of the Sea Arrows but they’ll only be effective at close range.’

‘Better than nothing,’ Mary said, dragging a fingertip over the point of the stick.

‘Little men have guns,’ Gog murmured, tearing at a piece of cooked fish. ‘We have sharp sticks.’

‘We can use their guns against them,’ Dakkar said, not quite believing his own words. ‘If we can get into Cryptos’s tower, we can take them by surprise.’

‘There, many Rohaga,’ Gog said. ‘They watch.’

Dakkar thought for a moment, watching the flames flicker. ‘Gog,’ he said finally, ‘you said back at the cave that the Rohaga had taken your people.’

‘They work,’ Gog grunted, pointing a finger in the direction of the tower. ‘Stefan works them for long time. Digging, lifting, pulling and pushing. Until their life leaves them.’ He gave a huge sigh.

‘That’s terrible,’ Mary said, biting her lip.

‘My own son,’ Gog said sadly. ‘His mother, taken.’

‘I’m sorry, Gog,’ Dakkar said, looking down at the ground.

‘Do you know if they’re all right?’ Mary asked.

Gog shrugged. ‘Gog want to save them but tribe depend on him,’ he said.

Dakkar shook his head. At first glance, this giant seemed savage and stupid yet the more Dakkar got to know Gog, the more he admired him.

‘But don’t you see? We have friends inside the castle already,’ Dakkar said, clapping his hands. ‘Believe me, Gog. Your people will rise up if we cause enough confusion. I’ve seen it happen before.’

Dakkar thought back to the Qualar, a strange race of undersea people enslaved by the last Count Cryptos. It was they who had brought down Cryptos by fighting his guards.

‘We will fight,’ Gog said, lifting his head. ‘Better to die than be slave.’

Dakkar was about to reply when a metallic click silenced him.

‘Don’t move,’ said a voice from the riverbank.

They turned to see their giant guard frozen with fear, a rifle pointed straight under his chin. The Cryptos guard holding the rifle looked like a child next to the quaking giant. Behind him four more guards levelled guns at Gog, Dakkar, Mary and the rest of the tribe who squatted around the fire.

‘Well, what do we have here?’ the guard grinned, pulling back the hammer on his rifle.

Chapter Nineteen

The Teeth of a Dilemma

Dakkar froze, his hands slightly raised. He glanced around, hoping to see one of Gog’s men concealed in the bushes, but they all sat around the fire, eyes wide and focused on the rifles.

Two more guards sidled from concealment at the river’s edge.
That’s seven
, Dakkar thought.
There’s eight of us but our rifles aren’t loaded. We don’t stand a chance
.

‘What’s your business with these savages?’ the head guard snapped at Dakkar. ‘What are you doing here?’

‘They’re my friends,’ Dakkar sneered, folding his arms. ‘I’m on a sightseeing tour!’

‘Keep a civil tongue in your head, boy,’ the guard said, jostling the gun. ‘I’ve a mind to shoot you dead and take your carcass to my master. He’d be very interested.’

‘Fool,’ Dakkar growled back, lifting his chin. ‘Once your master knew who I was, he’d have your head for killing me!’

The guard frowned but lowered his rifle slightly. ‘So who are you?’

Dakkar didn’t reply. Instead he stared at the shadow that grew under the surface of the river behind the Cryptos guards.

‘You haven’t answered me,’ said the guard, taking a step forward.

Two huge nostrils, followed by two yellow eyes, appeared above the water as Nakra slid towards the riverbank. Dakkar glanced at Gog, who gaped at the growing mass behind the Cryptos guards.

‘I think he’s wastin’ your time,’ said one of the other men.

Dakkar’s mind whirled.
Should I warn them?
he thought.
When Nakra comes on land, we’ll all be in trouble
.

The reptile’s head broke the water and its snout touched the sandy side of the river.

‘I won’t ask you again,’ the Cryptos guard said through gritted teeth.

‘Behind you,’ Dakkar said, pointing.

‘What?’ the guard snapped.

‘Nakra,’ Dakkar said, his eyes widening. ‘Behind you.’

The crocodile filled the bank behind them now, like a wall of teeth and muscle. One of the rearmost guards turned and screamed, firing his rifle into the hide of Nakra. The reptile angled its head and clamped its teeth around the man’s ribcage. Dakkar glimpsed the spurt of red blood and heard the crunch of bone before he averted his gaze. The other Cryptos guards realised the danger they were in now and fired at the crocodile’s head. It hissed and flinched back as each shot found its mark. Then it powered forward, sending river water spraying across the clearing. Its tail lashed across the open space, knocking the guards off their feet, sweeping the fire and the fish into the bushes. Dakkar hurled himself at Mary, pushing her out of the clearing and into the undergrowth. Some of Gog’s men managed to leap over the huge tail but others fell, getting clipped as it swung back again.

Two of the Cryptos guards lay groaning, their legs broken. The other four fumbled for powder and bullets, shuffling away from the approaching Nakra. It slammed its clawed foot down on one of the stricken men, making him scream out loud. The other had managed to load his rifle again and fired into the crocodile’s underbelly.

Nakra gave another hiss and turned, snapping at him. The crunch of the crocodile’s closing jaws cut the man’s scream short.

The remaining four Cryptos guards had reloaded but looked from Gog and his tribesmen to Nakra, uncertain on whom to fire.

Gog hurled his spear over the heads of the men, sending it straight into the open mouth of the reptile. Reassured that Nakra was the main threat at the moment, the Cryptos guards unleashed another volley at the croco­dile. The bullets thudded into the reptile’s thick skin.

Gog’s tribesmen hurled their spears; some hit their target but others clattered off the tough hide. Gog’s men grabbed stones and some smouldering branches that had been scattered from the fire. They flung them at Nakra, bombarding it while the Cryptos guards reloaded their rifles.

Once more the bullets found their target and Nakra had had enough as, slowly, the huge crocodile began to drag its bleeding body back to the river.

‘Reload, men!’ the leader of the Cryptos Guard shouted. ‘Get these savages before they get us!’

But Gog had anticipated what would happen. He grabbed the leader by an arm and a leg and threw him across the clearing. With a yell of terror, the man hurtled towards the retreating Nakra. The creature leapt up, grabbing the screaming man by the leg, then slid into the water. The surface of the river bubbled and frothed red for a moment and then all went quiet.

The remaining three guards looked at each other then dropped their guns and ran into the bushes, pursued by Gog’s men.

‘They go back and warn others,’ Gog said solemnly. ‘They must die.’

Dakkar shook his head. ‘We could take them prisoner,’ he said.

‘And leave them tied up out here?’ Mary said, her hands on her hips. ‘That would be worse than murder.’

‘We could take them with us, question them,’ Dakkar said, trying to blot out the sounds from the jungle as the giants caught up with the guards.

‘They would kill
us
,’ Gog said simply, and walked down to the riverbank.

Dakkar followed. The
Liberty
bobbed to the side of the bank, moored to the thick trunk of a tree that leaned out over the river. Blood stained the water and tiny fish darted through the red clouds, finding nourishment where they could. Dakkar shivered.

‘Will Nakra leave us alone now?’ he wondered aloud.

Gog nodded.

‘I don’t like this land, Gog,’ Dakkar said. ‘Every day is a fight for survival. So much killing and death.’

Gog shrugged. ‘Nakra only hunt food. Land fine until little men came along. They kill for no reason.’

‘When we get rid of Cryptos, then it will be fine again,’ Dakkar said, trying to reassure Gog.

‘No.’ Gog shook his shaggy head. ‘Men know now. They come again and again.’

A grim silence hung over the rest of the journey. Gog and his warriors picked their way through the undergrowth while Dakkar and Mary sat in the
Liberty
, drifting along the surface with the current.

The thick vegetation along the riverbanks denied Dakkar any chance to take in his surroundings other than the vines and tree trunks, creepers and broad, leathery leaves. Life teemed all around them. Lazy, droning flies buzzed through the green canopy above them and tiny lizards leapt from branch to branch. Distant roars echoed across the treetops but sounded far enough away not to pose an immediate threat.

Soon another sound mingled with the strange hoots and cries of the jungle creatures. A distant booming and swishing of waves.

‘The sea?’ Mary said, frowning.

‘I hadn’t really thought about it,’ Dakkar said, half laughing. ‘Of course rivers run into seas but how can there be a sea down here?’

As they rounded a bend, the river widened before them. Dakkar’s mouth hung open at what he saw.

The land flattened out and vegetation abruptly thinned as the river opened into a shallow estuary cutting through a flat plain. Steaming pools of water dotted the expanse, and beyond it a rolling black sea. At the very mouth of the river a wooden stockade surrounded a soaring tower.

It took Dakkar’s breath away. The walls were made of huge stone blocks and massive beams of wood. Round windows dotted the sides as the square tower reached up and up until the dark, grumbling clouds above them shrouded its top.

‘I’ve never seen such a tall building,’ Dakkar gasped. ‘Even St Paul’s cathedral in London isn’t that big.’

‘It’s amazing,’ Mary whispered, gazing up.

‘We’d better get out of sight before we’re spotted,’ Dakkar said, steering the
Liberty
towards the bank.

The reeds scraped along the hull of the
sub
as Dakkar landed her in the last clump of dense foliage that clung to the river’s side. Mary and Dakkar climbed out to find Gog and his tribesmen crouched among the bushes, their eyes wide with fear. They had never been so close to the tower since Stefan had started hunting them down. Slowly, they picked their way through the forest to the edge of the clearing that surrounded the tower.

‘How are we going to get in?’ Mary asked the question that was written all over the giants’ faces. ‘The stockade wall around it is so high.’

‘Many guards on wall too,’ Gog agreed.

Dakkar nodded. Huge tree trunks, sharpened to a point at the top, stood side by side to form the stockade wall. Guards paced behind these, giving them a high vantage point.

‘We need to get a closer look,’ Dakkar said, running his fingers through his hair. ‘Maybe we can find a blind spot or a weak area.’

Gog gave a nod. They set off towards the tower.

‘It’s quieter here,’ Mary said in a hushed voice.

She was right. The eerie silence made every step sound alarmingly loud; every twig that snapped was a gunshot to their ears.

‘Rohaga kill everything,’ Gog snorted. ‘Nothing go near tower.’

The forest had been partially cleared around the stockade, preventing them from creeping close. The canopy let more light in here where the trees had been thinned out.

‘This whole area has been partly cleared,’ Dakkar said, frowning. ‘Why?’

‘What do you mean?’ Mary said, catching up with him.

‘Wouldn’t it be better to have thick forest?’ Dakkar replied, waving his hand at the hacked vegetation. ‘That would be harder to get through, surely?’

‘Or completely razed to the ground to stop people sneaking up,’ Mary added, following his line of thought. ‘Unless Cryptos wants people to try to sneak up
.
.
.’

But Mary never finished her sentence. With a gasp, she vanished into the ground as if it had swallowed her whole. Dakkar spun round to see Gog disappear and then his tribesmen. Taking a step forward, Dakkar felt the soil under his feet shift and then his stomach lurched as the ground gave way beneath him.

He was falling into blackness. Then he hit something hard and knew no more.

Chapter Twenty

Traitor!

‘Wake up!’

Something struck Dakkar hard across the face.

‘Wake up, or do I have to smack you again?’ a voice snapped at him. A familiar American accent rang in his ears as sharp as the slap that still lingered on his cheek.

Dakkar blinked, half expecting to find himself sitting in the
Liberty
. His cheek stung and his head spun. Grey stone walls surrounded him and straw lay scattered on the floor. He peered up at the blurred figure in front of him.