The Wrath of the Lizard Lord (17 page)

‘Maybe you might want to rescue that one when I’ve passed,’ Dakkar said, keeping his head down. ‘Nobody will know.’

The guards looked at each other and then at the fruit he held.

‘You might sort of drop that one too,’ the first guard said. ‘By accident.’

The fruit in Dakkar’s hand thumped to the ground and he strode in through the gates as the two guards bent to pick the fruit up. He allowed himself a smile at the thought that he’d just wandered through Cryptos’s front gates without any real problem. Dakkar lifted his hat slightly and allowed Gweek to flutter out and land on his shoulder.

Buildings and drill squares filled up the space between the stockade and the tower walls. A series of large iron cages held reptiles that hissed and snapped at each other through the bars. A corral fenced in more docile herbivorous creatures the size of rhinos but with bony armour plating and many horns. Men hurried about, carrying bales of hay or pushing barrows of provisions. Carts loaded with barrels trundled past and, in the bustle, Dakkar went unnoticed.

Grabbing an empty basket, Dakkar began walking around the base of the tower, looking for a sign of weakness, anything he could use to his advantage. The blocks of stone that supported the tower stood as tall as Dakkar. He could imagine the giants heaving them into position, friendly and cooperative at first, helping their friend Stefan. Then, gradually, as his demands grew they would have left only to be dragged back as slaves. The tower’s walls stretched ahead of him; its foundations had to be broad and deep, he guessed, to support such a height.

Barred windows carved out of the stone appeared in the walls at ground level. Dakkar recognised them as the windows to the cells in which he had met Bonaparte. He strolled past them, swinging his basket casually and glancing down through the bars of each window as he went.

Glum faces gazed up, many of them giants huddled together. Women and children stared with hopeless expressions, dirt smearing their faces. In other cells, savage reptiles leapt up and bit at the bars, hissing and making Dakkar jump back. Finally, he came to a quiet cell, with a silent figure sitting in the corner. Dakkar knelt down close to the bars, pretending to tie his shoelace. Gweek gave a squawk of protest and fluttered on to Dakkar’s head.

‘Your excellency?’ Dakkar hissed. ‘Is it you? Can you speak to me?’

‘Dakkar?’ Bonaparte’s pale face appeared at the window. ‘I thought you were dead!’

‘Nearly,’ Dakkar whispered. ‘I haven’t much time. The count is moving his reptile cavalry to the surface.’

‘These are the preparations for battle,’ Bonaparte said, craning his neck and watching the men hurrying about behind Dakkar. ‘Cryptos will want a confrontation with all the world powers, somewhere he can face the massed armies of Europe and their generals and so annihilate them.’

‘We can stop him before that happens,’ Dakkar said, ‘if I can destroy the top of the tower and cut off their supply chain.’

‘I fear too many of his troops may be up there already,’ Napoleon said with a sigh. Then a grin spread slowly across his face. ‘I suppose a little chaos might slow things down.’

‘I’ll try to sneak in and free you –’ Dakkar began, but Bonaparte held up a hand.

‘No,’ he said. ‘First you need a distraction. Many of the men are absorbed in their duties. Over there,’ Napoleon said, pointing a finger beyond Dakkar to a square stone building, ‘that is where they store their gunpowder and weapons. I have watched them for many days. They are taking barrels of explosive up to the top of the tower.’

‘If I blow that storehouse up they’ll be busy dealing with that,’ Dakkar said. ‘I can get in and rescue you.’

‘It may be worth a try,’ Napoleon said. He tugged at the bars as if he could pull them apart and climb out. ‘I’ll stay here.’ He gave a wry smile. ‘Bon chance, mon ami!’

Dakkar jumped up and marched over to the square stone building that stood at the fringe of the stockade. It had no windows and only one door. Solid stone slabs covered the top of the building, making it look like some ancient tomb. Clearly any explosion inside the building would be easily contained. Dakkar cursed under his breath.

‘Don’t just stand there, lad,’ snapped a curt voice behind him. ‘Grab a barrel if you’ve got time to idle away!’

Gweek gave a startled croak and Dakkar spun round to see the ruddy-faced guard who had led the giants into the tower before. He shoved a small barrel of powder into Dakkar’s open arms, making him stagger backward.

‘Here’s me just come off a two-day patrol. No time for a rest,’ the man muttered, stamping off towards the tower wall. ‘Every man to his post.’

The man spat on the ground and continued grumbling, but Dakkar wasn’t listening any more. He watched as they joined a procession of men who stacked barrel after barrel into an Ascender Cage. This one ran up the outside of the tower and was a completely enclosed box made of copper. Rails set into a deep recess ran up the side of the tower.

‘Does that go up to the very top?’ Dakkar gasped in wonder.

‘Course it does, and the count is up there gettin’ bellyache because we’ve fallen behind with sendin’ the powder up, so get movin’!’ the grumpy, red-faced guard barked at him.

They stacked their barrels and Dakkar sprinted back to the huge metal door of the powder store, where a guard and a tall, thin man with a bundle of papers stood arguing.

‘I don’t know where we’re up to,’ the thin man said, throwing his hands up and dropping half the papers. ‘Your men are just grabbing anything and stuffing it into the ascender.’

‘I’ll stuff you in the ascender in a min–’ the burly guard snapped.

‘Sorry to interrupt, sirs,’ Dakkar panted, pretending to be out of breath. ‘The count wants to know where the fuses are.’

‘Fuses?’ the thin man said, going pale and flicking through his sheets. ‘But I thought we
.
.
.’

‘Ten-minute fuses,’ Dakkar said. He widened his eyes. ‘Please, sir, have pity. Don’t send me back without them. The count, he’s in a proper rage
.
.
.’

‘Is he?’ The thin man went even paler and swallowed hard. ‘Come with me.’

Dakkar followed the man into the cool shadows of the storehouse. Their footsteps echoed in what was essentially a man-made cave, a huge hall built to store weapons. Even half emptied the place looked crowded with barrels cluttering the floor, shelves stacked with sacks and racks full of rifles.

The man stopped at a chest of drawers and pulled open a drawer with a number
10
on it. He emptied the contents into Dakkar’s hands.

‘Thank you,’ Dakkar said, scarcely believing his luck. He turned to leave.

‘Wait!’ the man said.

Dakkar’s stomach lurched. He turned to face the man.

‘You may as well take some tinderboxes too,’ the man said. ‘Maybe the count will be lenient on us all if he thinks we’ve used our initiative.’

‘I’m sure he will, sir,’ Dakkar said, smiling and pocketing the boxes.

‘Go on, then. Run, lad,’ the thin man said, clapping his hands. ‘We wouldn’t want to upset the count, would we?’

‘No, sir,’ Dakkar said, grinning as he turned his back on the thin man.

Dakkar gripped the fuses and ran back to the ascender, which was virtually full now.

‘I’ll take her up,’ Dakkar shouted.

The guard holding the ascender doors, who looked rather like a gorilla in uniform, jutted his hairy chin. ‘Says who?’ he murmured, frowning with deep, bushy eyebrows.

‘I’m smaller than you,’ Dakkar said. ‘We can fit another barrel in. The count will be astounded by your quick thinking.’

‘He will?’ the gorilla guard said, giving a brown-toothed grin.

‘He’ll be totally amazed,’ Dakkar said, pushing his way into the cage and edging the guard out.

‘Well, if you think so,’ the gorilla said.

‘Here, hold this,’ Dakkar said, snatching Gweek out of the air and stuffing it into the gorilla’s huge hand.

‘Oh, righto,’ the gorilla said, frowning at the tiny flying reptile that pecked at his thumb. ‘Be sure to let him know it was my idea!’

‘Certain to, sir.’ Dakkar gave an exaggerated salute, implying immediate promotion.

The gorilla puffed his chest out, saluted back and clanged the doors shut.

A half-light filled the box of the ascender. Dakkar knew they used copper as it was hard to strike a spark on and thus safe for transporting explosives. Without waiting, he pulled the bungs out of two barrels of powder then he took the fuse and twisted it into the holes. Dakkar fumbled with the lid of the tinderbox.
What if I strike the spark and blow myself to pieces?

‘Are you all right in there?’ the gorilla outside called, banging on the door.

‘I can’t find the handle,’ Dakkar lied as he struck a spark into the soft linen fibre in the tinderbox. A small flame flickered into life. ‘Left or right?’

The gorilla paused for a moment. ‘It’s on the side – left, I think.’

Dakkar pushed the fuse wire into the flame and it hissed into life.

‘Got it!’ Dakkar yelled back, slamming the ascender’s lever up.

The cage rattled into life and Dakkar stayed low, throwing himself forward. The cage doors burst open and Dakkar tumbled out at the gorilla’s feet. The gorilla stared down at him, mouth open. Gweek wriggled from his grasp and fluttered out of reach, screeching indignantly.

‘What’re you doin’ there?’ the gorilla spluttered. ‘Who’ll stop the cage at the top?’

‘Oh, it’ll stop all right,’ Dakkar said, standing up and dusting himself down. ‘You keep looking up there and you’ll see.’

The gorilla lifted his head, jaw still gaping.

Dakkar gave a grin and turned round to leave.

‘Not so fast, Prince Dakkar,’ a familiar voice called. Count Stefan Oginski stood, flanked by Georgia and Mary Anning. ‘I thought I’d killed you already but this time I will make certain of it.’

Chapter Twenty-five

Chaos Reigns

The gorilla shoved Dakkar against the cold stone wall of the tower. The count strode up to Dakkar, snatching a rifle from a nearby guard. Several more guards formed a semicircle around Dakkar, their guns drawn. Gweek flew above Dakkar’s head in confusion.

‘I don’t know how you survived that fall,’ the count said through gritted teeth, ‘but this time I’m going to shoot you myself.’

Dakkar looked from Georgia to Mary. ‘So you’re going to watch him kill me?’

‘I’ve explained to Mary how it is,’ Georgia said carefully. ‘You had a chance but you threw it away.’

‘
He
threw
me
off the tower!’ Dakkar snapped. ‘I hardly had much of a chance.’

‘You could have joined me,’ the count said. He clicked back the lock on the rifle and strode a few paces away.

‘Wait!’ Georgia shouted. ‘We need to know what he’s done, surely.’

‘He was up to no good in that ascender,’ Mary added. She pointed to the gorilla. ‘Ask ’im.’

‘He didn’t even know where the lever was to start the thing,’ scoffed the gorilla. Then he frowned. ‘He did jump out smartish though!’

The count raised the rifle and pointed it at Dakkar, then turned it on the gorilla and fired.

The gorilla yelped and stumbled backward, clutching his ear. ‘Thanks, your greatness,’ he whimpered. ‘I’ll wear that scar with pride.’

‘I was aiming for your nose,’ the count said, slapping the empty rifle into Mary’s hand. Another guard ran up with a freshly loaded one. ‘But next time maybe you’ll remember not to let total strangers do your job for you.’ He raised the rifle again. ‘Now, Prince Dakkar, suppose you tell me what it was you were up to in that ascender.’

‘You’ll know soon enough,’ Dakkar said, giving a tight smile. ‘You can kill me if you like but your game is over.’

‘Well, if I have your permission.’ The count grinned and settled the stock of the rifle into his shoulder.

Georgia leapt forward, landing a fist square on the count’s jaw, while Mary grabbed his rifle. The gun went off but a louder sound above them drowned it out completely, making everyone freeze and stare upward.

High above, the cloud layer glowed bright orange and swirled as if blown by some giant’s breath. A deafening roar filled the air and the ground beneath their feet shivered.

‘It’s over,’ Dakkar said simply.

The smouldering carcass of a reptile thudded to the ground between the count and Dakkar. Stefan stared in horror at this strange sight. Then another landed and another, crushing two guards before they could even scream. Another pounded the drill square, kicking up a fog of dust.

‘It’s raining reptiles,’ cried the gorilla, running towards the gunpowder store with his hands over his head.

More rubble began to clatter to earth. Spars of flaming wood stabbed into the ground like giant spears. Rocks and boulders thudded down. One crashed into the cages holding the wild reptiles, killing a few but liberating many. These leapt from their prisons, pouncing on men, ripping and tearing at them.

The guards around the count began to waver, staring around at the chaos, some looking up at the sky as more debris crashed to the ground. Some fired on the reptiles. Others began to run for the stockade gate, joining an increasing crowd.