Chapter 33: Bound to stone
1 February, 2008 – 9:20 am
Eliza had told them to hold back as she flew on so that they wouldn’t be seen - and so be in any danger. But as the staccato sounds of the pistol rang out through the air, Scarlet and Thomas panicked and found themselves running as fast as they could toward the bright lights of Winterton Hall until their legs became weak and useless, and their lungs fit to burst.
As Scarlet ran, a soft flash of orange light from behind her made her stop and turn around. She rested, bent double with her hands on her knees, fighting for breath. The last thing she expected to see was Torfang there in the middle of the stone circle.
Another belch of dragon fire illuminated the area, casting lengthy shadows behind the standing stones. Even at this distance, she felt the heat of the flames on her face.
She squinted, not believing what she was witnessing.
‘Torfang?’ she whispered, bewildered.
Thomas ran back and grabbed her arm, urging her to get up and keep running.
‘Come on Scarlet!’ he shouted.
She shrugged off her brother’s grip.
‘They’ve summoned him!’ she said. ‘It’s all my fault!’
She sunk to her knees, crying.
‘Don’t worry.’
From out of the darkness, Eliza – now back in human form - walked back to her and offered her a hand. Scarlet noticed that Eliza had reclaimed the Ivory Flute and she looked up to her with tears welling in her eyes.
‘It’s all my fault!’ she sobbed.
Eliza stroked Scarlet’s hair.
‘It doesn’t matter any more, dear,’ she said. ‘But we have to get away from here.’
‘What about Torfang though?’
‘Don’t worry,’ she said. ‘We’ve got the flute back.’
Eliza held the flute to her mouth and blew. Once again the strange, mournful sound radiated out and across the grounds of the estate.
* * * *
Torfang craned his neck back, and looked at the four little figures below.
‘Who has summoned me?’ he demanded.
Godfrey stepped forward.
‘I did.’
The great dragon moved forward and scrutinized him with a look and a sniff.
‘You don’t fool me. You can’t mask your decay from me. You are Remus, once glorious commander of the Dragon Knights of Talistay, now an undead traitor and cursed.’
‘That I am,’ replied Godfrey flatly, with no trace of fear.
The dragon smiled.
‘Where are the children?’ he asked, cautiously.
‘You mean the heirs to Talistay?’ he replied. ‘Why would you want to concern yourself with them? They are pointless in this day and age, nothing more than a curio.’
‘Nevertheless, where are they?’
Now it was Godfrey’s turn to smile.
‘I ordered their death.’
The dragon lashed out angrily with its tail as a warning.
‘Then you will die also.’
Godfrey laughed, which took Torfang by surprise, and he blinked.
‘I think not, worm.’
Torfang bellowed a laugh.
You seem very certain, little man.’
Godfrey smiled.
‘Oh, I am.’ he sneered.
Gideon had tethered the Cocaktrice behind one of the standing stones out of view. As Godfrey signalled to him, he walked it out into the open and with one movement pulled off the blind that covered its eyes. Almost instantly, the Cockatrice made a terrible screech, and snapped at the chains that bound it. Gideon closed his eyes tightly, careful so as not to catch the gaze of the monster. He either expected that the dragon would kill them all in a fiery inferno, or they’d all be turned to stone by the Cockatrice. Thankfully, neither seemed to happen.
Instead, after a while, he tentatively lowered his hand from his face to see the dragon in front of them turn slowly to stone over the course of several seconds.
‘No!’ cried Torfang, pitifully.
The mournful sound of the Ivory Flute echoed around the circle of stones, but before it could finish summoning him, Torfang had turned to solid rock, and the sound of the flute simply dissipated into the evening air.
Godfrey was elated. ‘Hoodwink the Cockatrice!’ he shouted.
Once the cockatrice was hooded once more, the four members of the Fiery Brand stood around to admire their handiwork.
‘Good work gentlemen,’ he said, and walked up to the huge statue and slapped it on its rump.
* * * *
Eliza frowned, and looked at the flute and then towards the stone circle in the distance.
Nothing seemed to be happening. And then, the terrible melancholy call of the Cockatrice reached them. It wasn’t loud, but it was unnerving, unlike anything on earth.
‘What’s that sound?’ asked Thomas, screwing his face up. ‘I not sure I like it,’ he said, watching Scarlet clap her hands over her ears.
But Eliza seemed more concerned with the flute.
‘It’s not working!’ she said. ‘Something is wrong.’
And then the sound of the Cockatrice washed over them again, and it finally occurred to her what had happened. She grabbed Scarlet and Thomas and pulled them along with her.
‘We need to find Hillary and Tobias. Now!’
* * * *
Tobias tried to stifle another yawn.
It was dreadfully boring; the only person he recognised in the hall was Gordon, the landlord of the Bearded Dragon. Of-course, Hillary – who had disappeared somewhere - knew practically everybody, and it seemed that the entire population of Blakeby was crammed into Winterton Hall.
But for what purpose, he wondered?
Pondering, he popped another canapé into his mouth and chewed. Then he looked around, and discretely spat the contents of his mouth into a napkin.
‘God, I hate caviar,’ he muttered, wiping his mouth on his sleeve, and dropping the napkin into a nearby plant pot. As he did so, a woman from nearby gave him a disapproving look, but he assumed – wrongly – that it was because of his lack of dress sense.
‘Bloody jacket,’ he thought, smiling back at her.
And another thing occurred to him; why was that fire so damn hot? Surely, it was hot enough as it was in here trussed up in his secret agent dinner jacket outfit without being barbequed to death as well.
He wiped his brow with a handkerchief, and shuffled off to find Hillary.
After a few minutes of negotiating a path through the crowded hall, Tobias eventually found him talking to the butler who was standing by the entrance to the Hall.
‘What can you tell me about this event?’ asked Hillary.
‘I’m afraid not that much sir, the master keeps rather too much to himself these days.’
‘Oh, really? Why do you say that?’
The butler looked down to the floor.
‘I’d rather not say, sir,’ he mumbled.
Hillary continued, sensing the butler was uncomfortable with the questions.
‘Why hasn’t the mayor made an appearance yet then? It’s almost been an hour since we arrived. Surely you’ve been told to keep the guests occupied?’
‘Yes sir, that’s correct. The master had some work he said that he urgently needed to complete, if I remember rightly.’
‘I bet he did,’ Hillary thought.
Tobias walked up to Hillary and grabbed him by the arm.
‘Ah, that’s where you are!’ he said.
‘Should I be somewhere else?’ asked Hillary with a smile.
Tobias shook his head.
‘What the hell are we doing here?’ he hissed, grabbing another canapé and champagne flute from a passing waiter. ‘I hate it.’
‘So I see,’ grinned Hillary, and turned back to the butler.
‘Please excuse us.’ he said, and walked away with Tobias to a far corner of the hall.
‘What?’ he hissed. ‘I was just about to find out more stuff about our friend the mayor! We need to find out things. I can’t do that with you acting like a bored child, can I?’
But Tobias wasn’t listening. Instead, he was staring at the window. He lifted a hand to wave.
‘Who are you waving at?’ Hillary asked.
But when he turned to look, he saw Eliza standing at the window waving the Ivory Flute at them through the glass.
‘What the hell?’ he whispered, frowning.
Instantly, he knew something was very, very wrong.
