The Case of the Missing Cats (14 page)

‘Mwhmnmmrmdl,' replied Karnataka, wriggling to get free.

Dirk was glad Karnataka's mouth was still bound. No one likes to hear a grown dragon beg for mercy.

Leon slapped his tail hard against Dirk's face and said, ‘That's for sticking your big, green, mountain nose into other dragons' business.' He turned to the others and said, ‘Let's go.'

All four spread their wings and took to the sky, flying into the night without another glance back.

The Kinghorns had gone.

Dirk shook the ropes off and released Karnataka from the ropes and said, ‘I need your help, Karny. Holly's in danger. I need you to grab her while I distract the Amphiptere, OK?'

‘Of course, Dirk,' said Karnataka, standing up. ‘You can rely on me, Dirk. When have I ever let you down, Dirk?'

‘Right, come on, then,' said Dirk, spreading his
wings and rising into the air.

‘Just one thing, Dirk,' said Karnataka.

‘What?'

‘I know what they've got planned for Mandy and if you take my advice you'll forget the human and get out of here now,' he replied, turning, dropping down on to all fours and running full pelt into the trees.

‘Rats in white satin!' swore Dirk.

He could have caught him of course, but what was the point? He couldn't force him to help. It would just be a waste of time and if there was one thing he didn't have a lot of, it was time.

‘Should have seen that coming really,' he muttered, flying towards the Amphiptere.

Holly looked up at the creature. It flapped its wings, lifting its huge head high in the sky, and pulling its body straight. It was enormous. Having reached a great height it began to swoop down, its drooling cavernous mouth heading straight for her. Dirk had said that there were bigger, scarier things in the world than dragons, but never in her wildest nightmares had she imagined anything this big or this scary.

She screamed and clung to the rocking raft. The head grew nearer. She could see right down its
throat. Its mouth began to close and she felt certain that this would be the last thing she ever saw. She closed her eyes, hoping only that she would die quickly and painlessly.

The mouth crashed shut and Holly felt strangely weightless. She could no longer feel the damp wood under her knees or the cold water lapping over her fingers.

She opened her eyes and saw the raft. Only now it was a metre below her, bobbing up and down on the waves.

Slowly she craned her neck round and found herself looking into two enormous, red eyes. The hideous creature had caught her belt in its teeth and was holding her in the air. For a moment they stared unblinkingly into each other's eyes.

Then the creature turned its head, causing Holly to lurch to one side. Something had distracted it. She turned to see what and saw through the darkness a bright-orange flame speeding towards them, reflecting on the water's surface, growing bigger and brighter as it got nearer.

The creature opened its mouth and reared its head. Holly fell back on to the raft, which rocked violently. She lost her footing and slipped into the icy river.
Sound cut out. She floated down through the murky water, numbed by the cold, feeling peaceful. Tranquil. Then something grabbed her and heaved her, spluttering and coughing, back on to the raft. She gasped for breath and looked up.

‘Come on,' said the familiar voice of Dirk Dilly. ‘I don't think this structure is very stable.'

Looking up at him, the relief she felt instantly seeped away as, behind him, the creature's head was hurtling towards them at great speed.

‘Jump on,' said Dirk, helping her on to his back. ‘Hold on tight.'

The head was almost upon them.

‘Go!' screamed Holly.

Dirk leapt off the raft and flew into the air. Holly looked behind her and saw the creature grab hold of the raft and crush it between its teeth, splinters flying everywhere.

Her body was soaking wet. She ached all over and tears of fear and relief were streaming down her face. The only words she could manage were, ‘I thought I was going to die.'

‘Never,' said Dirk. ‘I wouldn't let anything happen to my partner.'

Dirk touched down on the riverbank by the van and Holly climbed off his back, grateful to feel solid ground beneath her feet. The Amphiptere howled and thrashed wildly in the water.

‘What's it doing?' asked Holly.

‘They've chained her to the river bed,' said Dirk. ‘She's trapped.'

‘She could have eaten me, but she didn't.'

‘Eating meat would have the same effect on her as it would on me.'

‘Why? What is it?' she asked.

‘An Amphiptere. Limbless dragons from an ancient time before dinosaurs,' said Dirk. ‘She's called Mandy.'

‘Well, Mandy's attracting a lot of attention,' said Holly.

Lights had come on in the flats and houses all around. People were standing at the windows, staring in horror or gesticulating at the monstrous creature hissing and snarling in the water. The sound of panic filled the air and Holly could hear approaching sirens.

‘The police,' she said.

‘Racing rats from Rickmansworth!' exclaimed Dirk, slapping himself hard in the face. ‘That's it. That's what they're up to. We've got to save her.'

‘Save her?' asked Holly. ‘From what?'

‘Mandy may look scary,' explained Dirk, ‘but her skin is as thin as paper. Her main defence against attack is her poisonous blood. Look what happened when I bit into her. I was unconscious for three days and I'm a healthy young dragon. But poisonous blood is no defence against bullets.' Dirk picked up the rope that had held him captive and tied one end of it round his waist.

‘So what about the cats?' asked Holly.

‘Fresh meat. They've been forcing her to eat the cats.'

‘But that will kill her,' she said.

‘Yes, but first her blood will boil and more importantly turn to gas.' He tied the other end of the rope to the post and checked the length. ‘Then they put you out as bait and unleash the monster, so when the police arrive they find Mandy apparently attacking you. They open fire and BOOM.'

‘The knights in shining armour slay the monster.'

‘Yes. They put more holes into Mandy than it would take to fill the Albert Hall, releasing enough poisonous gas into the atmosphere to wipe out every living creature in a ten-mile radius.'

‘So Mandy's a bomb?'

‘Exactly,' said Dirk. ‘And the boys in blue here are loaded up with the detonators.'

White headlights were shining through the trees. Cars were driving down the path to the clearing.

‘Can you bite through the chains?' said Holly.

‘No, it's black metal forged in the fire of the Outer Core. It's twenty times stronger than any human metal,' said Dirk. ‘I'll have to bite through the thinnest part of Mandy I can find.'

‘But won't that release the gas?'

‘Some, yes, but Amphiptere skin grows back pretty quickly near the tail. It'll be enough to knock me out, but this rope should make sure I can find my way
back. Try to stop them shooting at it,' said Dirk, diving head first into the water with a splash just as a headlight swung across the darkness, illuminating Holly.

She watched the coiled rope unravel as Dirk pulled on the other end.

A car screeched to a halt. She turned round, squinting into the lights. More appeared. Police cars and vans stopped in front of her. Blinded by the brightness, Holly heard car doors open, crackling police radios, people shouting orders, a spotlight coming on and shining up at the Amphiptere and the sound of guns being cocked.

‘No!' yelled Holly. ‘Don't shoot. Don't shoot.'

A silhouetted figure emerged from the bright lights. ‘Hold your fire,' he said, walking forward. As he got nearer, Holly could make out the policeman's bearded face, his eyes staring up in bewilderment at the huge creature in front of him.

‘What . . . is . . . it?' he said quietly.

‘Don't let them shoot,' Holly pleaded.

‘What is it?' he asked again, his gaze fixed firmly on the beast.

‘It's an Amphiptere,' said Holly. ‘Her blood is poisonous and it's turned to gas because she's been
eating meat, and if you shoot her you'll release it and wipe out the entire city.'

The policeman looked down at Holly, then back up again. ‘What is it?' he said.

A second policeman joined them and said, ‘Do you want us to open fire, sir? Sir? Detective Inspector Hughes, sir? Are you all right, sir?' he said.

‘Sergeant?' said the stunned policeman.

‘Yes, sir.'

‘What is it?'

‘I would describe it as a huge winged serpent of the variety that hitherto was only thought to have existed in the mythological writings of the ancient Egyptians and such like,' said the sergeant.

‘It's a bomb,' said Holly. ‘Don't shoot it.'

‘A bomb?' said the sergeant. ‘No, bombs are a lot smaller than that and rarely have wings or heads. That's your basic winged serpent, that is. Should we shoot it, sir?'

The bearded policeman looked at him, blinked and said, ‘What? Yes, shoot it. Shoot it down.'

‘No,' said Holly. ‘You'll kill us all.'

‘Sorry, miss, we're just following protocol,' said the sergeant. ‘Anything seen by officers of the law that does not conform to the conventional understanding
of the world as we know it is to be shot on sight.'

‘But it's not attacking. Look.'

‘Just because it's not attacking, doesn't mean it's not going to attack,' he said, grabbing her arm and dragging her behind the cars, followed by the dazed detective inspector. Struggling to get free Holly saw a line of guns raised up, aiming at the Amphiptere's head.

‘No!' she cried. ‘Don't.'

‘Shall we fire now, sir?'

‘What?' said the detective inspector, still transfixed. ‘Yes, fire. Shoot. Kill it.'

‘Ready,' shouted the sergeant at the top of his voice. ‘Aim for the head, lads . . . And fire!'

Holly shielded her ears as an explosion of bullets took to the air, sounding like thunder.

Dirk swam through the murky water, fighting against the strong undercurrent.
I'm swimming in the Mediterranean
, he thought.
It's a lovely sunny day and I've gone for a swim to cool off. It certainly isn't the River Thames and I am certainly not about to bite into something that will poison me and possibly kill me. Oh no, I'm on holiday
.

There were lights swirling over the river's surface
and Dirk could make out the end of the Amphiptere's long body, snaking down through the water. He tried to swim towards it but felt a tug on his belly. The rope wasn't long enough. He had no choice. He untied it and let it go. It floated away into the darkness. He would have to find his own way back.

Dirk followed the tail down to the bottom of the river, where it was at its thinnest. He stood on the river bed and looked up. It looked as if the body went on for ever, but Dirk knew that somewhere up there it did have an end and at that end was the head of a scared, long-maned, female Amphiptere called Mandy, with the potential to wipe out every living creature in London.

Here goes
, he thought, grabbing the tail to hold it still. He opened his mouth, letting in the foul river water.

I'm on holiday
, he thought,
I'm in the Med enjoying a lovely bit of celery. Mmm, celery
. He bit down. His teeth sliced through the tail, splitting it in clean in two. He felt the rancid taste on his tongue and the water darkened.

Lethargy washed over him.

His eyelids grew heavy.

His body felt weak.

Bubbles
, he thought,
there are no bubbles
.

Then he blacked out.

The gunfire stopped but the noise reverberated around Holly's ears. A cloud of smoke wafted in front of them.
This is it
, she thought. They had failed. The bullets had penetrated the skin and the poison was spreading through the atmosphere. The Kinghorns had won.