The Ring of Five (7 page)

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gone! He looked wildly round the classroom. Les was grinning.

"Please come back in, Cadet Cole," Duddy said in a raised voice. The door opened and Dixie came back in, smiling.

"How did you do that?" Danny gasped.

"A variation on what we have been talking about," Duddy said, "and not as big a mystery as you might think. Perhaps not even as big a mystery as someone who looks like a Cherb, but apparently is not." She turned her dark glasses on Danny, who shifted in his seat uncomfortably.

The class ended with Blackpitt proclaiming "Lunch" in a tone that suggested he was looking forward to a good lunch himself. Danny walked back to the main building with Les, Vandra and Dixie.

"Listen," Danny said, "I need to know what a Cherb is. And I want to know why everybody is looking at me in a funny way."

"Cherbs is our enemy," Les said. "Simple as that. They look like you ... well, everyone knows what they look like, but they're as wicked as anything."

"They were part of the Lower World, and we used to get on okay with them, but that's all changed," Vandra said. "They've got soldiers and stuff--all we've got really is Wilsons."

"The Cherbs and us ordinary people lived together forever and ever in peace in the Lower World," Dixie said, "and then they decided to take over."

"We're on the only bit of territory not under the

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control of the Ring," Vandra added. There it was again, Danny thought. The Ring!

"There are a truce and a treaty, but the truce isn't much good--the Cherbs attacked us last night, and Brunholm lied about it. One of the Messengers was killed!" Les said.

"I didn't know that," Vandra said. "I'm sorry. But it doesn't change things. The peace we have is better than no peace at all."

"By the looks of things, we're not going to have it for very much longer," Les said.

"I don't understand," Danny said. The others looked at each other. "What?" Danny was exasperated. "Is anybody going to tell me?"

"There is an island between the Lower World and the Upper World--the Upper World is your home, where your parents are and everything," Vandra said. "The island is us, Wilsons Island. It's part of the treaty that we guard the Upper World against the Ring of Five and the Cherbs."

"Without us," Les said, his tone deadly serious, "the Ring and the Cherbs would take over. Your lot wouldn't stand a chance."

"As it is, it's only a matter of time. The Ring don't care about the treaty anymore," Vandra said gloomily.

Danny looked from face to face. They were all serious, there was no doubt about that. Once again he found the words resonating in his head. The Ring of Five.

"Some people think we are about to fall," Vandra said, "and if that is true ..."

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"... it'll be curtains for your world," Les said grimly. There was a long silence, which was broken by Dixie.

"Do you think they'll have sausages for lunch?" she said. "I like sausages."

They didn't have sausages for lunch, but they did have steak pie and roast potatoes with gravy. As they were finishing off the last of the pie, Brunholm appeared briefly on the battered old television. He looked a little shaken, and announced briefly that they had the rest of the afternoon off. There was a cheer from the cadets.

"Brilliant," Les said, "that means that we can get you settled into the Roosts."

Danny wasn't sure he liked the idea of a Roost. It sounded cold and drafty. But I won't be in it for all that long, he thought.

They filed out of Ravensdale after a particularly satisfying apple pie and custard. Danny noticed that many of the other cadets would not meet his eye, or edged away from him. And a few times he thought he heard the word "Cherb" behind him.

"Don't worry about them," Dixie said cheerfully. "They wouldn't know a Cherb if one ... fell on them, or something."

Danny felt someone plucking at his elbow. It was Brunholm.

"Are you all right?" he asked hoarsely. "Are you hurt?"

"No, I'm okay," Danny said.

"Are you sure, boy?" Brunholm demanded. "McGuinness wants to launch a formal inquiry. A mountain of paperwork and him poking his nose

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everywhere. Are you sure it wasn't an accident? Wilsons is very old. Bits fall off every so often. That's it, I'm sure. Yes, you can tell McGuinness it was an accident."

"I'm afraid I can't do that," Danny said, politely but firmly. "Mr. McGuinness was there and he saw what happened."

Something gleamed deep in Brunholm's eyes for a second, something that made a chill run down Danny's spine. Then he let go of Danny's sleeve.

"Yes, yes, of course," he murmured distractedly, "things must take their course. Very proper of you." He walked away from them, seemingly deep in thought.

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THE GALLERY OF WHISPERS

Danny followed his new friends to the Roosts, his mind racing.
"Curtains for your world,"
Les had said. But even if it was true, it didn't give Wilsons the right to kidnap and drug Danny.

They turned the corner of the main building and walked across a smooth lawn.

"Here we go," Les said. "The Roosts."

Danny looked up in surprise. The Roosts were two large wooden buildings, each with a crooked chimney and weathered carvings on their corners and eaves. The carvings looked very old, and seemed to depict all sorts of shadowy creatures. But that wasn't what was so surprising about the Roosts. The buildings stood on slender iron legs, intricately wrought with flowers and leaves. Danny reckoned that they must be fifty or sixty feet off the

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ground. The buildings were joined only by a tangle of wires and pipes at the back, and a balcony at the front. An iron bridge ran from the Roosts across to Wilsons's main building. Two metal staircases soared upward, if they could be called staircases, for they were incredibly light and springy, and when Les grabbed the handrail, the whole thing flexed and bounced. Paying no attention to this, Les ascended at great speed. Dixie followed him. With a nervous glance up, Danny followed, trying not to look down, keeping his eyes fixed on the top of the stairs.

Despite the fact that the cadets' weight made the staircase writhe like a snake as they climbed, it felt more secure than it looked, but Danny was still glad to reach the top. He steadied himself against the rail and looked down. It was a long way to the ground.

"The Roosts used to be quarters for the Messengers," Vandra explained, "before they stopped flying."

Les opened the wooden door and Danny followed them in. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the gloom. On either side of the Roosts were rows of beds separated by wooden dividers, so that each bunk was almost in its own room. A large black stove glowed in the middle, surrounded by armchairs and an overstuffed sofa. "This is yours here," Les said, pointing to one of the beds. "You're down our end of the hut. Smyck's lot have the other end, so you're better off here."

"The other hut's for the girls," Dixie said. "Kind of cozy, don't you think?"

Danny sat down on his bed, noticing that his suitcase was already under it. For some reason that he could not

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explain, the place already felt like home. Stop it, he said to himself; you're getting out of here. First chance.

"Can you get to the school by the bridge?" Danny asked.

"It's supposed to be for the instructors to keep an eye on us," Les said. "We're not allowed to use it."

"We're forbidden from going onto the two top floors of Wilsons," Dixie said. "It's all dark and deadly up there, from what they tell us."

Danny went out onto the balcony. There was a good view of the roof of Wilsons. There were turrets and peaks and gulleys divided by metal walkways. He could see windows and skylights in unexpected places, as well as what looked like antennas and satellite dishes, all pointing in the direction of the glow in the sky he had seen the previous night. He looked that way, but his view was obscured by trees growing on a ridge, so all he could really see was a darkening of the sky, as though smoke was drifting up into it.

"I expect you'll be inducted tomorrow," Dixie said.

"What's that?" Danny turned to her.

"Inducted. They have to ask you do you want to be a cadet at Wilsons ... and ... some other stuff."

"They have to ask me?" Danny said. "I could say no?"

"It's up to you," Les said.

"So all I've got to do is tell Brunholm and Devoy to stuff it!" Danny exclaimed. "That shouldn't be hard."

He saw his two new friends exchange a look.

"What is it?" he asked. "They kidnapped me."

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"They shouldn't have done that," Les said slowly.

"No, that was very bad," Dixie said. Danny felt that he had said something wrong, but he didn't know what.

"Listen," Les went on, his smile returning. "There's another way to get down from here." He looked around swiftly to make sure no one was watching.

"Go on," Dixie said, smiling.

"Turn your back to me," Les said. Danny did as he was told. Les put his arms under Danny's armpits, then locked his hands behind Danny's head.

"Ready?" Les said.

"Ready for whaaa--" Before Danny had a chance to react, Les had launched himself from the edge of the balcony.

Danny had never been so scared in his life, the ground rushing toward them at a hundred miles an hour. Then he felt the arms around him take his weight, and he could hear a rustling, whispering sound as his friend's wings cut the air.

"We're flying," Danny gasped as the wind blew through his hair.

"More like gliding," Les shouted over his shoulder, "but I kind of like it. If the old Messengers saw me doing this they'd have kittens."

It took seconds, really, but it felt like much longer. They had almost reached the ground when Les shouted again.

"Hold on tight!" he said. "I've never been any good at landing."

"Now you tell meeeeeee ..." Danny hit the ground

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face-first and plowed along for several yards before Les bounced back into the air again and flipped over, so that Danny was looking straight up at the sky. Les tried to turn around again but only succeeded in doing a somersault, then a double flip, before both boys came to a crashing halt upside down in a holly bush.

"Ouch," Danny groaned, picking himself gingerly out of the bush. "You need to practice."

"Sorry about that," Les said ruefully. "Thought I had it cracked just before we hit."

"Wouldn't it be great," Dixie said, coming down the stairs, "if we all had wings?"

And she wandered off across the lawn, flapping her arms like a bird. They watched her until she reached the edge of the lawn, then disappeared from sight behind a privet hedge.

"Isn't she a little ... unusual ... to be a spy?" Danny asked.

"She is a bit barmy, all right," Les said, a tone of admiration in his voice, "but she ain't stupid. Just sees the world a different way from the rest of us."

"I suppose so."

"Listen," Les said a bit awkwardly, "I got something I need to do. Will you be all right for a few hours?"

"Yes, no problem," Danny said. He didn't mind the idea of a few hours on his own. He could plan what he was going to say tomorrow at the induction. He might even find a way to escape before then. And even if he didn't find the means to escape, he had the right to refuse

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to be inducted, and after that they would hardly force him to stay.

"Brilliant," Les said. "I'll see you later, then. You need anything, ask Vandra. She might have a bit of a family history, but she's the salt of the earth."

Danny wondered what the family history might be. He remembered Vandra's two vampirelike teeth.... Surely not.

It was still cold, but the sun had come out and he thought he would explore the grounds of Wilsons. He could get an idea of how you got in and out of the place and what lay beyond it.

Devoy watched Danny from the library of the third landing. One of the other cadets had probably told the boy about the induction, he thought. And that he had the right to accept or refuse. Devoy wondered if Brunholm had considered that Danny might say no when he had paid Fairman to bring the boy across the frontier.

To be fair to Brunholm, his plan had a lot to recommend it. On the downside, though, it was dangerous, especially for Danny. Brunholm's plans never took any account of the fact that they had to be carried out by people of flesh and blood.

Danny seemed intelligent, and capable of learning, though whether he could learn what he needed in the short time available remained to be seen. And he could still refuse. That was the big difference between Wilsons

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