D. MacHale - The Never War

I didn’t tell him. He was going to find out soon enough.

“Work faster!” I ordered. “We gotta get outta here!” I worked on the ropes, but had to glance back to the other room. Farrow took a cigar from his jacket and plugged it into his mouth. He pulled out a match and struck it against the crate. He then took his sweet time about lighting his cigar.

This was torture. I looked at the ropes to see we were working them loose, but it was going to be too late.

Farrow finished lighting his cigar, then touched the still flaming match to the fuse on the back of the red rocket. Instantly the fuse sparked to life like a Fourth of July sparkler. In seconds the rocket would ignite.

“Pendragon? What is that?” Spader demanded to know. “What’s going to happen?” Fear had crept into his voice.

“Keep working on the ropes,” I said.

A few seconds later…

Ignition.

“Cover your eyes!” I shouted.

Spader turned his head to the wall, but I had to watch. The rocket shot from its makeshift launch pad, flew across the slaughterhouse and sailed right through the center of the open door into the room where we were hanging. Bull’s-eye. I turned away at the last instant, ready to get hit.

But the rocket missed us. Instead it blasted into the pile of wooden crates. A few more feet to the right and we would have been torched. We were spared, but not for long. This wasn’t your ordinary firework. This was meant to do damage. It must have been loaded with some kind of flammable stuff because it exploded and sent a wave of fire over the crates. In seconds the pile was engulfed with flames.

Spader and I stared at the growing fire with fear and awe. It was growing impossibly fast. I could already feel the heat.

“There’s my answer!” shouted Farrow over the roaring flames.

Spader and I turned to see he was standing in the doorway.

“One of those babies is all I’m going to need,” he said while puffing on his cigar like a proud papa. “Now, boys,” he said, “let’s see how fast this dump burns to the ground. Thanks for playing!”

With a laugh, he. spun around and strolled out of the room. The door was slammed behind him and I could hear the sound of a heavy lock being thrown. A quick glance at the fire told me that this room would soon be an inferno. All Spader and I could do was dangle there helplessly. Winn Farrow had proven to be as crazy and evil as predicted. Max Rose was going to get his answer. Farrow was not going to back off. The proof would be our deaths.

That’s when I heard a voice.

Given that the heat from the fire was already roasting us, I didn’t think it was possible, but when I heard that voice, I got a cold chill.

“Hello, Pendragon,” the voice said calmly. “Enjoying your visit to First Earth?”

Spader and I both shot a look to where the voice was coming from, to see a man standing on the catwalk over our heads. It was one of the gangsters who had followed Winn Farrow into the room earlier. At least helookedlike a gangster. His voice told me otherwise. This was a guy from another place and time who finally decided to reveal himself.

“You certainly took your time finding me,” he said with a cocky smile. “I was beginning to think you had lost interest.”

Saint Dane had dropped by to watch us cook.

(CONTINUED)

The fire spread quickly. It had already engulfed the stack of wooden crates and was creeping across the floor toward us, leaving black, burned wood in its path.

“And hello to you too, Spader,” Saint Dane said. “Having second thoughts about teaming up with young Pendragon?”

I looked at Spader and saw the hatred in his eyes. “Forget him,” I said softly. “We’ve got to get loose.”

Spader nodded. But while we continued to work on the ropes, Saint Dane worked on us.

“Such a simple territory you come from, Pendragon,” he said. “The people are so easy to influence. It’s pathetic, really. It’s all about money here. Getting it, keeping it, using it for power. Their greed will prove to be their own downfall.”

The fire had reached the wall and was starting to climb.

“Winn Farrow and his disgusting little band of ruffians have quite the spectacular plan to bring down Max Rose,” Saint Dane said. “Farrow’s a feisty little toad, but I admire him. I couldn’t have devised a more interesting scenario myself.”

I couldn’t take it anymore and shouted, “What is it? What are they going to do?” Saint Dane laughed. “You should have paid more attention in history class, Pendragon. All the clues are there for you. Perhaps you’re finding life a bit more difficult without the aid of your dear, departed uncle.”

I didn’t take the bait. Saint Dane was trying to mess with our minds and I wasn’t going to let him. The fire was now climbing the wall near us. I guess I don’t have to point this out, but I was scared.

“I’ll leave you boys now,” Saint Dane said. “I need to help prepare for the big day tomorrow. Too bad you’re going to miss it. It’s going to be a sizzling-good time.”

Saint Dane started for the door, then stopped and looked down to us one last time. “Oh, one more thing,” he said. “As I’m sure you guessed, I brought those two gunmen down to the flume and had them fire their crude weapons back to Cloral. I meant it as a warning to you. I had no idea Press would be foolish enough to be standing there. Such a shame. But from the looks of things, you’ll be joining him soon. Give him my best, won’t you?”

With that, Saint Dane turned and left through the door on the catwalk.

My suspicions had been confirmed. Saint Dane had used those gangsters to kill Uncle Press. It crushed me to think about it. But I had to fight my emotions and stay focused, or we were going to die.

Spader was another matter. I saw a look in his eyes that actually frightened me. Saint Dane’s words had touched the dark, raw nerve that he tried so hard to protect. He was ready to explode with anger and hatred.

“Don’t go there, Spader,” I cautioned. “That’s what he wants. Stay focused.”

My warning did no good. Spader blew. He frantically pulled on the rope with a fury like I couldn’t believe. He thrashed our hands back and forth so violently I had to lean away or he would have smacked me in the face. When I leaned back, I saw that the fire had crept across the wall over our heads and had reached the rope. The rope was on fire! Spader let out a final ghastly shout of anger and jerked the rope with such ferocity that it broke! The two of us tumbled to the floor and fell together in a heap.

As much as I hated to see Spader lose control, I liked that Saint Dane’s needling had backfired. Spader’s anger had helped set us free, with a little help from a burning rope. But we weren’t safe yet.

“Spader!” I shouted, and yanked his hands to force him to look at me. “You gotta focus or we’re gonna die.”

“He’s a demon, Pendragon. We’ve got to stop him.”

“We will, but first we gotta get outta here.” I tried to keep my voice level to calm him down. “Stay with me, all right?”

Slowly, I saw the ferocity leave his eyes. He was back in control. “Yeah, yeah, right,” he said, and refocused his attention on saving our skins.

We were off the hook but still tied at the wrists. Spader stretched one way, I pulled the other, and a few seconds later I was able to yank one of my hands free. After that it was easy to untie the rest.

We were loose, but trapped in the middle of an inferno. The flames now covered the walls and licked at the ceiling. If the fire didn’t get us, a collapsed ceiling would. I glanced around, desperate to find a way out. It looked hopeless. There was nothing but fire raging all around us.