The Book of Beasts (23 page)

Em didn't have much time.

She hopped to the only front window and peeked outside. The old man was crouching beneath the tree, talking with his back to the door.

Em hopped back to the chair, leaning on it while she scanned the empty fireplace for a weapon. She rolled her hands against the plastic ties. Scissors would be nice. Or a knife. Then she stared at the ash on the hearth, and grinned.

Stay outside, old man. Stay outside.

Em sat down beside the hearth with her back to the fire. Without being able to see what she was doing, she began to sketch in the ashes.

Auchinmurn Isle
The Middle Ages

Jeannie was still fading in and out like a badly tuned radio station inside Matt's head. Matt concentrated, fixing her words in his mind as he heard them.

Call the Grendel up from the centre of the island. The Grendel was the first beast to rise out of the muck an age ago, so it must be the last one bound away. You must possess it, control it. With the help of the book, Hollow Earth will open to take it inside.

His hands were dirty. There was clay under his nails and between his fingers from the cave floor when he had fallen beneath the poisoned weapons of Malcolm's tiny army.

Turning his head slightly, Matt could see Carik huddled in her corner again. Solon had gone. Malcolm sat away from them both, his arms hanging loosely on his knees, his head bowed, black liquid dripping from his mouth. Whether he was praying or sleeping, Matt did not know.

He worked at the clay stuck between his fingers, bringing it down to his fingertips. Then he used it to lightly sketch the Grendel on the corner of the parchment. Most of the image was hidden beneath his palm. He hoped the sketch was big enough.

He heard his mother's voice in his memory.

The power and longevity of any animation is affected by a combination of intent and imagination, Mattie. You have to
will
it to life.

Matt had never wanted to animate a drawing more.

But, when he finished, there was no explosion of light anywhere in the cave. No lines of colour leaped from his drawing. Nothing. Only a faint throbbing in the base of Matt's neck, and a painful flash of light behind his eyes. He clenched his jaw to avoid letting out a yell.

Someone was beside him. He felt a cool hand on his arm.

‘Carik?' he whispered, trying to turn his head to see her.

She squeezed his arm lightly, comforting him. ‘Despite leaving me in that cave, I'm at your service.'

Malcolm's head shot up. His tongue flicked from the side of his mouth to catch a drop of inky blackness on its tip as his hand waved Carik back to her corner. Matt felt her unwillingness to go.

Solon had no intention of retrieving
The Book of Beasts
, but he couldn't let the thought into his mind. If Malcolm sensed even an inkling of what he was planning to do, his sister and the others would suffocate in that terrible black swamp. Matt and Carik too were depending on him. He wouldn't let them down.

The moment Brother Renard had taken his last breath, Solon had made a promise that he would avenge his death. His and the Abbot's. Solon accepted in his heart that he would have to break certain rules to achieve it.

The peryton's glimmer reflected like moonlight on the water as they soared together high above Era Mina. Solon gripped the peryton's antlers, doing his best to keep his plans locked safely away in his own mind until the right moment.

As the peryton soared to its highest point in the wispy clouds, Solon allowed a glimmer of his intentions to peep through.

In an instant the peryton had turned in mid-air and dropped straight down again, towards the top of the pencil tower on the wee island. The wind tore at Solon's cheeks. He wrapped his arms around the beast's neck, flattening his body across its back and tucking his head into its neck to prepare for the impact. The tower loomed in front of them. Solon closed his eyes and tightened his grip.

The peryton's massive antlers hit the tower like a battering ram, knocking a hole in the wall at the weakest point between the two topmost arrow slits. The momentum threw Solon off the peryton's back and on to the rubble in the heart of the shattered cell.

Jeannie lay on the straw, her head still weighted down by the mask. The peryton skidded to a stop near her head, and sniffed her tenderly. She stirred, lifted her chained hand and patted the beast's nose.

‘Ach, son,' she slurred to Solon, ‘you shouldn't have come, but I'm glad ye did.'

‘Are you hurt, Lady Jeannie?' Solon asked, climbing out of the rubble and dusting himself down.

‘I've been better.' Jeannie shook her chains. ‘Would ye mind?

Sorry, master
, Solon thought.

Using the wall as his canvas, he etched a broadsword into the bricks with his dagger. He held his hand out to catch the sword's handle as it dropped from the air in a flash of silver.

Taking the sword in both hands, Solon hacked through the chains on the iron rings, freeing Jeannie from the wall. ‘I still need to break the iron clasp at the back of your mask,' he warned. ‘It will cause discomfort.'

‘Do what ye have tae do, son. Don't fret about me.'

Solon slammed the sword hilt into the pin on the clasp at the back of the mask, snapping it on his first try. He lifted the heavy iron casing gently off Jeannie's head and set it down.

Jeannie tugged Solon into a soft embrace, then turned her head back and forth, loosening her stiff neck muscles. ‘Thank you. Now where's oor Mattie?'

‘Malcolm is holding him near the portal to Hollow Earth, in a painted cave inside the island,' said Solon bitterly, helping her slide the iron cuffs from her wrists and ankles. ‘He has my friend Carik too. Malcolm trapped my sister and others on Auchinmurn. They are in terrible danger, but he won't release them until I return with
The
Book of Beasts.
' He looked at Jeannie, willing her to understand. ‘I cannot give him the book. You must understand, too much is at stake. But I must save my sister and the others somehow.'

The peryton dipped its front legs and kneeled next to Jeannie, who whispered into its pricked ears. The peryton snorted in response.

‘You know where your sister and the others are?' Jeannie asked, gently brushing debris from the peryton's antlers.

Solon nodded.

‘Then you take the beast and free yer sister and the others. Let me deal with Malcolm.'

Solon flushed. ‘I cannot let an… old woman fight a monster on her own.'

Jeannie smiled kindly. ‘I will manage fine, son. My whole life, folks have been underestimating my abilities. I can handle Malcolm and he knows it. That's why he has kept me drugged and locked up here.' She rolled her neck muscles again. ‘I'm feeling much better already. I've not eaten the food or water he sent with those two buffoons for a while. My imagination is as alert as ever.'

The peryton snorted and dipped its forelegs again. Solon hesitated.

‘Climb on, then,' said Jeannie, giving him an encouraging push. ‘Let the beast help you. Then take your sister and the others to safety in one of the caves on the big island. Just in case.'

Solon climbed slowly on to the peryton's broad back. ‘Just in case of what?' he asked, settling his sword at his side.

‘Just in case my plan with Matt doesn't work and the beasts break free.'

Matt trusted this woman. Solon decided he would too.

Auchinmurn Isle
Present Day

A hefty pair of scissors dropped out of nowhere above the hearth, hitting the floor with a loud smack. Em grabbed them and jumped back to the chair seconds before the old crofter clicked up the latch and stepped back inside, setting the silent walkie-talkie back on the mantel.

‘Not long now,' he said, folding his arms.

Em fiddled with the scissors behind her back, trying to position them so she could cut the pieces of plastic binding her wrists. It wasn't easy.

The crofter was staring curiously at her.

‘Not long for what?' asked Em, manoeuvring the scissors to her other hand.

‘Not long for you to find a way to use the scissors you've animated to cut those ties.'

He picked up the poker and scraped away the sketch in the ashy hearth.

Em's hands tingled as the scissors vanished in a burst of light. At least she'd managed to free her wrists from the chair.

‘It was worth a try.'

He laughed, a raspy smoker's laugh. ‘Ach, of course it was, lass. Yer just like yer father.'

Through the front window, Em spotted two beams of light bouncing across the open field from the footpath. The fog had thickened considerably, making it look as if the torch bearers were floating towards the cottage. Friend or foe? she wondered.

The crofter smiled at the approaching lights.

Foe.

Adrenaline spiked through Em's system. She inhaled and exhaled slowly, keeping her emotions on an even keel. She needed to control her fears. If she was going to get away, she didn't need to contend with any additional obstacles from her imagination.

She tried to sense something more about this odd man than the same staunch resolve that she'd been detecting since he'd grabbed her at the stones. Again, she felt a stabbing pain behind her eyes as he blocked her attempt at inspiriting him.

‘Who are you?' asked Em, her skin tingling all over. ‘How do you know my dad?'

The beams of light were getting closer. Her best chance of escape was before whoever was carrying those torches made it to the door.

‘Never mind who I am,' the crofter said, pulling Em up from the seat. ‘Who
you
are is more important.'

Em pushed up with her knees and slammed her head under the crofter's chin. His head whipped back and Em bit the edge of her tongue from the force. Lifting the chair with her free hand, Em slammed it down on the back of the crofter's head, knocking his cap off.

The chair was heavy and knocked the old man to his knees. But the blow hadn't been enough to knock him out. He rolled on to his back and grabbed for Em. Em scooped up some ashes from the hearth and threw them at the crofter's eyes. Grabbing the poker, she swung it against one of his knees. He howled in pain and crumpled to the ground again.

Momentum from the swing knocked Em off balance. Lunging at the mantel, she grabbed at the matches, knocking the rest across the hearth. Frantically, she reached for one and tried to use it to draw an opening on the wall. The crofter leaped to his feet and yanked her backwards, toppling them both to the floor. He wrapped his arms round Em and squeezed, his grip so tight round her chest that Em couldn't breathe.

She was going to pass out at any second.