Authors: Tony Richards
She was probably safe for the time being at least. I felt the pressure in my chest relax a little. Off to the side of the square, Saul was pointing, shouting orders to his men. They holstered their weapons, then ran across to help her, sprinting up the Town Hall steps.
They disappeared inside. So I looked back at our visitor, our grim tormentor.
But his back was turned to me. Perhaps – for the moment – he’d forgotten all about me. He was gazing at the high roof, watching Cassie move across it. And the spectacle seemed to fill him with malicious glee. His shoulders were quivering with silent laughter. Damn him.
I noticed that my arms had started moving slightly once again. And when I pushed hard, I found that I’d regained the ability to move forward. I
had
just dropped beneath his radar, hadn’t I? I seemed to have slipped from his attention temporarily.
Perhaps I ought to draw my own gun, press it to his skull. And keep on firing till it was empty. I doubted it would do any more good than Cassie had. But maybe I ought to try.
Then I remembered something else.
I still had a pocketknife on me, the one I’d used to break into the judge’s home. Would I do any better with that, if I took him by surprise?
The Dralleg was peering in the same direction he was. It was like the thing responded to, obeyed, his every thought.
As gently as I could, I pulled the knife out and unfolded it. And then I stepped across. And plunged the metal into Saruak’s neck, driving it right in through the spine.
There was no blood. And there was no response at all except the mildest shudder.
Saruak’s gaze was toxic as he took in what I’d done and swiveled round.
He reached swiftly round and yanked the blade out – it was still completely clean. Then tossed it to one side with a dismissive flick of his wrist. It had been a useless gesture, but I still felt glad I’d done it.
“I’m disappointed in you, Mr. Devries,” his voice rang out. “You pretend to be some kind of paragon, an upholder of order. And then – hypocrite that you are – you try a stupid trick like that, just like some common thug.”
He began taking a step toward me, then seemed to think better of it. Except I couldn’t see what was holding him back.
I forgot about him for a moment, glancing up over his head. Cassie was still trying to find her way down from the roof. There had to be one, or else how did the flags get raised and lowered? But it was probably a concealed hatch, she hadn’t come across it yet.
As I watched, she went up to the guttering, which had never looked that steady. Then slipped her lower body out into the void, making desperate kicking motions, trying to grab a drainpipe with her legs.
My teeth ground.
For God’s sake!
She was so anxious to get back down here it was making her even more reckless than usual.
I wanted to help her. But Saruak and his creature stood between us. I had to get around them first. It wasn’t exactly going to be an easy job. I fixed him with what I hoped was a challenging gaze.
“Seriously, why not come and get me?”
He drew himself up rather proudly, pulling both his shoulders back and puffing out his chest.
“I, who have lived so long and caused so much destruction? Should I even dirty my hands, dealing with a pest like you? I think not. This is one job that I’m going to delegate.”
I took a step back, not liking the sound of that at all. The Dralleg had turned to me as well. It seemed more alert than it had been before. A rumbling was coming from its throat, and its luminous e
yes were pinned on me intently.
Saruak’s eyes shone brightly, and the skin around his cheeks had taken on a little extra color. Oh, he was enjoying this.
“How do you plan to win this time,” he asked, “without your little friend around?”
The humor left his features and he bared his teeth again. His arms spread a few inches from his sides.
I glanced briefly back up at the Town Hall roof. Cass was trying to do something pretty stupid with the ropes around the flagpoles. But one of the cop’s heads had now appeared, thank God.
Saul Hobart had moved halfway toward us by this time, his gun still out in front of him. I tried to signal to him with my eyes.
Don’t interfere. Stay back.
“You end here, Mr. Devries!” Saruak was saying, yanking my attention back. “Well, any last words?”
I pulled a face. “What difference does it make?”
“You’re quite right. No difference at all.
All his cool triumphalism vanished like a morning mist. He seemed to breathe outrage and petulance.
I was already moving away from him. There was a lightness to my step there had not been before. A lithe springiness, my heels barely touching the ground. The fingers of both my hands were all curled up and twitching.
Saruak swung around and faced the Dralleg. And then pointed in my direction, siccing the thing on me.
And I started to run.
I’d never gone so fast in my life, as though a storm were after me. The Adderneck bobbed up ahead. As did the Iron Bridge, still full of approaching people.
But here’s the odd thing. When it had first appeared today, shambling along behind its master, only the Dralleg’s shadow had caused people to react.
Now that it was active, moving at full speed, a sudden shock went through the citizens around us. Once again, it wasn’t like they looked at it directly. But it was almost like they
sensed
the creature. Were aware of it as a strong vibration. Felt the violence of its motion, like a rumble of thunder out of nowhere. And it affected how they were behaving.
Those who were about to mount the bridge paused, looking uncertain what to do. Those at the end stepped quickly off. The others, spaced along the middle, all shrank back to allow us through.
And again, thank God for that. The thought of that creature getting in among those spellbound people – I’d do anything to avoid that.
The Dralleg was right up behind me. I could hear its pounding tread, and almost feel its breath hissing across my neck. There was suddenly a high-pitched singing noise back there, the air
being parted. I lurched forward hard, almost stumbling over. Something brushed against my collar, but did not connect. Had the thing just swiped at me? I didn’t doubt it.
Didn’t dare pause, either. But I pulled out my gun and tucked it under my left arm, firing backward blindly.
The thing let out a wail. And I think it staggered briefly to a halt. But then, it kept on coming.
My foot clanked down on metal. I was in among the girders, now. The Iron Bridge was far more stoutly constructed than it genuinely needed to be, a symbol of the new industrial age in which it had been built. A plaque on it read ‘1899.’ And it wasn’t really iron at all, despite the name. It was made of two matching webs of steel – the crossway clamped between them
– riveted along its entire length and painted glossy black.
The people still on it had abandoned the right-hand side. So I went in that direction, clambering up and swinging myself across the framework. And, clinging to the outside of a girder, finally turned around.
The bridge had emptied out almost entirely, I was pleased to see. No one else had stepped onto it, and the last few shapes were now retreating. Another bare handful of seconds, and we were alone above the river.
The creature had stopped too, looking puzzled. It hadn’t been expecting this. Perhaps it had believed I’d just keep running until it caught up with me. If it
was
an extension of its master’s consciousness, it was a pretty stupid part. Maybe this was the animal aspect of Saruak, the brainless, primal beast.
It stared at me with those faintly glowing, pale green eyes. Its brow was furrowed once again. Its mouth was slightly open, so that I could see the rows of fangs. The whole of its body, from waist to neck, was hunched over.
But I already knew what it could do. I smiled bitterly at it, more like a grimace really. And then fired two shots directly at the center of its face.
It went flailing back a yard or so, pawing at its ugly features, howling.
But then the Dralleg just recovered, and it flung itself at me.
I barely got out of the way in time. Sparks flew from the girders as its long claws struck them, scraping along. One set whistled above my head. I started to edge away still further. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea, but it had been the only one available. I couldn’t move and aim my gun at the same time. It was either one or the other.
So I stopped and fired again. I managed to hurt it, sure. But much less badly than the last time. Or perhaps the creature had grown more determined. Moisture blew out of its nostrils. Then it lunged at me extremely quickly. One of its arms came snaking through a gap in the ironwork, the claws almost catching me across the middle.
I had to hang right out across the water to avoid the blow. Which meant using both ands again. And then I went scuttling sideways, to the far bank of the river.
We could keep this up, backward and forward, all day, I guessed. Or at least till one of us got too exhausted to continue. And it didn’t take a genius to figure out who
that
would be.
But Saruak had moved up to the bank, by this stage of the game. He was watching us very closely. His sangfroid of earlier had returned. All of the rage had left his features. His expression was a calculating one right now.
“Dralleg?” I heard him murmur.
And the creature stopped and peered around at him. I could only wait and
see what they were going to do.
A few more words dropped from the Manitou’s lips, in that curious language that I’d heard him use before.
I had no idea what they meant. But the monster seemed to understand. It craned its neck toward him for a second, then looked back at me.
And in the next moment, it was climbing out itself, vaulting across the girders and then scuttling at me.
There was nowhere else left to go.
So I pocketed the gun and then gave in to gravity, letting myself drop.
Despite the fact that it is not a particularly significant river, the currents of the Adderneck run strong. It is much deeper down the middle than it looks, a good couple of fathoms. I knew that because I used to swim it as a kid. And its waters are cold, whatever the season.
The shock of it hit me as I went plunging in, but it wasn’t an unpleasant sensation. More like a purging, a release.
Bubbles swarmed around me, clinging to me like a shoal of fish. They tried to push their way up through my nostrils and they crackled in my ears. My eyes came open. I could see the dark outline of the bridge above me. Beyond that, the sun looked slightly shapeless, rather weak.
It seemed so far away, a wavering smudge of brightness. Maybe, if I stayed down here, then all this awfulness would pass on by me. But my lungs weren’t buying into that.
I broke back through the surface. Gasped. It sounded like old timbers, creaking. Wavelets were splashing up around me. Dampness spilled across my face. The world went blurry for a few seconds.
But when it cleared and took on proper shape …
I had already been towed some twenty feet or so from the bridge. Saruak was still there on the river’s bank and following me along. There was a jauntiness to his tread, and he seemed cheerful. So maybe I had only postponed the inevitable.
He drew level with me and pointed at my bobbing head. I only had a split instant to wonder why.
There was a sudden, large dark movement in the corner of my eye. And then a massive churning, an enormous splash that sent far bigger waves rushing out.
Only one thing could have done that. The Dralleg had plunged in after me.
My first instinct was to swim away from it. And first instincts are usually good, so I went with it. I must have taken twenty strokes before I slid to an uncomfortable halt. Then – treading water – I turned back around.
I had expected it to come after me. But the beast was nowhere to be seen. I scanned round quickly. There was nothing. No pale gray head moving in my direction. And no further commotion of any kind. Had the river simply swallowed it … where had the monster gone?
The coldness of the water had seeped right into my skin. But that wasn’t bothering me. Not knowing what was happening did, not even being able to see. I tried to circle round and take another glance at Saruak.
Something tugged very briefly at the left hem of my waterlogged pants, drawing my attention down. Maybe it had been a clump of weed or a piece of sunken debris.
But the sensation was replaced by a searing pain, next moment. I struggled upward wildly, dragging myself free of it. My body cleared the surface halfway to my waist. Then I flopped back down and floundered.
My ankle was killing me. It smarted like darning needles had been driven right through it. I knew what had caused it immediately. Something had just cut me, badly. And it didn’t take me very long to figure out precisely what.
I wasn’t swimming anymore, but the current was still dragging me along. I raised my lower body as much as I was able, keeping it horizontal in the drift, putting as much distance as possible between my legs and the river’s bed. And then, I gazed downward.
A vague shape was on the move, in the depths below me. It was sunken too far to make out any proper details. Just a vague silhouette, that was all. But there were two luminous glimmers down there, keeping the same distance from each other. Two inhuman, glowing eyes.
I saw what the truth of the matter was. The Dralleg, apparently, couldn’t swim or even float. But it had walked along the riverbed, and caught up with me that way.
There were two thin streams of bubbles coming from its nostrils. They were bursting right in front of me. I wondered if it even needed oxygen, a thing like that. Or maybe it was simply holding its breath.
The creature lashed at me again. But it couldn’t seem to reach me this time. I paddled away from it, kicking gently with my unharmed leg and staying belly-down, trying to ignore the pain now spreading through the other one. I wasn’t sure how badly I was bleeding. But in waters as cold as this, it wasn’t going to be long before my body temperature began to drop.
The current was still bearing me along, and tugging at me even harder. We were entering the fastest stretch. The monster kept on after me. But, satisfied it couldn’t hurt me for a while, I took a few more seconds to absorb my surroundings.
Union Square was fading off into the distance. The Town Hall had dwindled, the crowd in front of it lost from view. Ordinary houses were beginning to appear around me – the suburbs of East Crealley and Pilgrim’s Plot to either side – although I could tell that most of them were empty. There was no help coming from that direction then.
Saruak was still following me, pacing down the river’s footpath like a bloodhound on a scent. He reached a little rowboat tethered to a pole. And looked like he was considering using it, coming after me that way.
But all he did, in the end, was stop where he was and shove his hands into his pockets. His gaze on me was very taut. He was silent, but his whole mood seemed expectant. Why?
All I needed to do, I thought, was strike out for the far side of the river. Except my head seemed to have become rather light. My gaze lost a little of its focus. The pain in my leg …
Had gone away almost completely. It was not that it had gotten any better. No, the limb was growing increasingly difficult to feel. I started shivering gently.
How deeply had those claws cut? And if the wound was as bad as I suspected, how much had I already bled out? It was impossible to tell while I was in the water. But I felt my insides lurch.
Memories came rushing back at me. I’d used to fish this stretch of river with my father, when I’d been a kid. Nightcrawlers and lures, we’d used. He’d had this thing about ‘fly-fishing snobbery.’ And …
I knew it got
much shallower around these parts. The best area – as I recalled – for catching trout.
I turned over in the current awkwardly, wondering where the Dralleg was by this time. It had disappeared from view again, despite the fact that I could make out the bottom clearly.
I could see some large rocks in the filtered sunlight. I could make out clumps of flowing weed. There had to be eight feet of water underneath me at the very most. Which made me a far easier target. But I could see no hulking shape at all. No pale green gaze mirrored my own. Where in blazes had the creature gone?
When my head came back up, I’d been turned around once more and was facing the Iron Bridge, a jet black cobweb in the distance. Some instinct made me look the other way.
And I remembered it all clearly. My father and I, out for an evening’s fishing. We had waded in the margins, on this section of the river. The central channel, which I was still in, had to be only some five or six feet deep.
Twenty yards downriver from me, a huge, pale head was emerging. Unable to reach me from the depths, the Dralleg had made its way up there to cut me off. Its enormous shoulders burst free of the surface, water spilling off them. Then its powerful forearms came out, the claws catching the light and shining.
But there was something else that I could see. As it emerged, the creature blew a huge plume of vapor from its muzzle. And its mouth was hanging open wide. Its ribs were heaving.
It had stayed down there a good long while, I figured out. But it still had to breathe eventually. And maybe I could use that. How?
The current became faster still. I was being swept toward the thing.
Again, I tried to swim away. Except the only thing that really swam was my own head. My insides seemed to turn to Jell-O. I thought I’d be sick. The numbness from my left leg had spread out into my whole lower body. When I tried to kick, it was like trying to pull my limbs through mud, not water.
How close was I to passing out? I worked my good leg hard, and some sensation returned.
The flow dragged at me insistently. But I had little strength to fight it. Cassie was going to have to finish this all by herself. I knew that she could, didn’t I?
The Dralleg’s shape – which kept on blurring – was getting closer every time I blinked. In a few more moments I’d be cut to shreds.
But there was still some feeling in my arms. And dammit, I
wasn’t
going out this way. I took a long breath, and then began hauling, breaststroke. At first, nothing seemed to happen. Then I broke free of the pressure on me and began to make some progress to the side.
The Dralleg let out an enraged wail and came after me, flailing wildly. But we’d entered deeper water before too much longer. I was letting it carry me downstream again.
I didn’t dare go near the bank anymore, that much was obvious. I doubted I’d even be able to stand up if I reached it. The beast would catch up with me easily, and that would be the end of that. So I kept on paddling uncomfortably till I’d completely passed the shallows, and then headed back for the central drift.
I took another glance across my shoulder, just in time to watch the Dralleg suck in another lungful of air.
And then its head went back under.