Simon Green - Live and let Drood

Of course, Eddie. What about the other two?

I paused. What do you mean, what about the other two? You mean Patrick and Diana? What about them?

Well, they re both Droods, too. Do you want me to give them armour, as well?

I looked at the Regent and then at Patrick and Diana. And just like that, I knew who they were. Who they had to be. And why they d always seemed so familiar. Age had made a big difference. They didn t look anything like they used to in the only old photo I d had of them. Hell, Patrick was bald with a beard now, and that ll disguise anyone. Diana s hair was grey. They d both changed so much, but even so, deep down I d recognised both of them the moment I saw them. It had just taken till now, this moment, for me to see them clearly and admit to myself who they really were.

Mum? I said. Dad?

Emily and Charles Drood smiled at me. The Regent stood between them and put his arms across their shoulders.

My children he said. Don t blame them, Eddie. They wanted to explain everything the moment you walked into Uncanny. I persuaded them not to. Because you already had so much on your plate But they still insisted on meeting you and working alongside you.

I put up a hand, to stop his talking. All right, I said. I get it. But there will be a hell of a lot of questions afterwards.

Yes, said Charles. We ll tell you everything. Afterwards.

There is quite a lot of it to tell, said Emily.

You abandoned me, I said. I hadn t meant for it to come out that harshly, but I couldn t hold it back.

How could you leave me here?

We didn t want to! said Emily.

We had no choice, said Charles.

You see? said the Regent. This is why I didn t want you to know yet! We can t do this now, Eddie. We have to concentrate on the matter at hand.

The front doors exploded inwards as a massive monster s head slammed right through them. A great battering ram of a head more than twenty feet across and half as high, it forced its great bulk into the hallway after us as we scrambled to fall back. Long jaws slammed together in their eagerness to get at us. Charles and Emily opened fire on it, blasting great chunks of its face away, but it just roared deafeningly and pushed more of itself into the hallway, expanding the opening it had made in the doors with brute force. Molly armoured up and punched the head with as much force as the armour could deliver, but still she could only damage it, not hurt it. I yelled for everyone to fall back, and advanced on the snapping head with the ironwood staff in my hand. Huge dark eyes followed me, and the jaws gaped open. I hit the head a mighty blow with Oath Breaker, and the whole head exploded. The force of the blast threw bloody fragments the whole length of the hall and back out the doorway, and in a moment the entire space was empty again. Dark blood and other fluids coated the walls and dripped down from the ceiling, along with misshapen gobbets of flesh.

I was just lowering Oath Breaker and starting to relax when a long snakelike head shot through the gap where the doors had been, grabbed me in its jaws and hauled me out into the alien world. I armoured up instinctively, so the heavy teeth just ground uselessly against me, but I was still held firmly as the great snake head hauled me high up into the air and waved me back and forth. The world spun dizzyingly around me. I jabbed at the front of the snake s head with Oath Breaker, and all its front teeth shattered and blew apart. The huge alien creature screamed deafeningly, spraying dark blood by the gallon, but it released some of its hold on me. I punched holes into the scaled flesh of the upper jaw with both my armoured fists, and then used the precarious handholds to pull myself out of the mouth and up onto the top of its head. I stamped my golden feet into the head to anchor myself.

I could see the Hall a long way below, surrounded by all the many monsters that dwarfed it. The huge snake head swayed viciously back and forth, spraying blood everywhere, and screaming so deafeningly I could barely stand it, even inside my armour. I balanced myself as best I could, raised Oath Breaker with both hands and brought it down on the back of the creature s neck, where the head met the body. Scaled flesh exploded and the whole great body went limp. I rode the dying snake all the way down to the ground, and my armoured legs soaked up the massive impact as the head smashed into the ground. I jumped down and ran for the open doorway.

Molly came out to meet me in her armour. She stopped abruptly, blocking my way into the Hall. I stopped. I knew what was wrong. It was Molly s armour, all right; the familiar tarnished gold with the feminine attributes but it hadn t walked like Molly, moved like Molly.

What are you doing? I said to the armour. To Moxton s Mistake. Why have you overridden Molly s control?

You re planning on going home, said the rogue armour in its grating, too-human voice. I m not. I like it here. I think I could have fun here. Our bargain is over. No more service; I ll take my freedom here. And you re not going to stop me, Eddie. Because I have Molly Metcalf inside me. Trapped.

What do you want? I said.

I m going to stand back and watch the monsters tear the Hall apart, and then drag you out and eat you, said the rogue armour. A fitting retribution for all the years you left me trapped in the Maze. Maybe I ll even help the monsters. Smash Alpha Red Alpha And you won t lift a finger to stop me, Eddie, or I ll crush your precious Molly into a cube, like I did before. Only slower, so I can enjoy it more

I remembered the golden cube and the crushed meat and bones it had left behind. I clenched my golden fists uselessly. I hadn t a clue what to do.

Eddie! yelled a familiar voice from the doorway.

Catch!

A small shiny thing tumbled through the air, the rogue armour, and I reached out a hand and plucked it from the air. Just a small metal clicker. I looked at it and then I looked at Moxton s Mistake and then I grinned slowly behind my featureless mask. I held up the clicker so the rogue armour could get a good look at it.

My uncle Jack is the best Armourer we ever had, I said. He knew armour couldn t be trusted, especially in the wrong hands. So he made this.

I hit the clicker, and just like that Moxton s Mistake disappeared from around Molly and reappeared standing on its own, a dozen feet away. Molly swayed for a moment, and then her head came up and her face cleared. I ran forward, grabbed her by the arm and hustled her back to the Hall, where the Armourer was waiting. Moxton s Mistake howled its rage and its fury and sprinted after us. I could hear it behind us, closing the gap in seconds, and it was almost upon us by the time we charged through the great opening where the front doors used to be. The Regent stepped forward, his small silver gun in his hand. Molly and I ducked quickly out of his way as we ran past, and the Regent shot Moxton s Mistake full in the chest. The impact blasted the rogue armour off its feet and threw it backwards, into the path of the advancing monsters.

Thanks, Dad, said the Armourer. He nodded easily to Molly and me. Ready to go home, kids?

Oh yes, said Molly. Really. You have no idea. Her hand went to her throat where the silver torc had been. Armour is overrated.

Everyone, keep your heads inside! yelled the Armourer. We are leaving now! And I don t want anyone s bits left behind!

He activated the remote control in his hand, and the familiar groaning and straining sounds of Alpha Red Alpha started up. Moxton s Mistake was running straight at us, but already he looked vague and far away.

You stay here, I said, hoping he could hear me.

You stay here with all the other monsters.

And the last thing we heard as the dimensional machine carried us away was the rogue armour s howl of thwarted fury.