Faculty of Fire (44 page)

“Maybe we should work out some kind of strategy?” Naive suggested uncertainly.

Neville gaped at his younger brother in amazement, and it was obvious that no one else had expected such a flight of intellect from the eternal goofball.

“Unfortunately, we don’t have time,” Caiten said dismissively. “I’m afraid those iron golems were well designed for vampire-hunting. I just hope we’re not too late. ...”

He walked rapidly towards the sound of clattering and banging, followed by the Vickers brothers: Neville with a bent spear over his shoulder and Naive with a massive club held at the ready. Then came Steel, hung all over with lengths of rope, and I brought up the rear, dragging my all-purpose battle broom behind me.

It was a pity we’d had so little time to find appropriate weapons. If we’d looked for a bit longer, no doubt we could have found something rather more serious.

We easily spotted the first signs that the vampire had run this way. The trail of destruction was dozens of yards long.

And then two blurred figures loomed up ahead of us. The movements of the vampire and the golem were so swift that we could hardly follow them.

“And you think there’s some way we can interfere in THAT?” Neville asked curiously.

“I don’t see how there’s any way we can help the vampire,” I was forced to admit. “I can’t even say for certain which one is Kelnmiir.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem,” Caiten said. “Prepare your weapons.”

I obediently took a firm grip on my broom, not really sure of how it could help us. Naive’s club was impressive, but what good was it against a heap of iron? And I didn’t think Neville was going to be much help; what would he do? Stick the bent spear through the golem? That left Steel with his ropes and Caiten ... but then, he didn’t have a weapon at all.

“Kel!” Caiten shouted.

One of the figures started slowly pulling back ... seemingly in our direction.

“And what do you suggest we do with that mountain of iron?” Steel enquired. “Do you think any of the things we scraped together along the way will be any help to us?”

“I hope so,” Caiten replied. “I really do hope so.”

And I hoped so even more.

I took a firmer grip on my broom.

“Get ready,” Caiten hissed.

The vampire was moving towards us at incredible speed

“I assume you know what to do,” he shouted as he ran past.

The next second I pressed the power switch as hard as I could and waved the broom at the golem. I didn’t know what my friends were doing at that moment, but my all-purpose battle broom was the only thing that worked – the golem was flung back to the far end of the hall. But it’s very hard to kill an artificial being, and quite impossible to frighten it. So the iron golem promptly jumped back up onto his crooked legs and started running in our direction.

“Quit goofing off, will you?” I yelled at my friends.

“We’re goofing off?” Neville exclaimed in amazement. “You and that broom of ours didn’t even let the golem get within striking distance.”

Naive backed him up. “How can I hit him with my club when he’s twenty paces away?”

“This time I’ll let him get close.” I said, offended. Is that what you want?”

“Oh no, keep the golem as far away from us as possible!” Kelnmiir told me sharply. “I’m afraid I don’t have the strength to deal with him.”

I waved my broom at the running golem, who was getting close again.

“And how long do I amuse myself like this?” I asked more calmly.

“I’ve no idea,” Caiten replied honestly, then looked at the vampire. “Tell me how you used to deal with these golems during the Second Borderland War.”

“Simple,” the vampire replied calmly. “Four vampires just tore an iron golem to pieces.”

“And what are
we
supposed to do with him?” Neville enquired.

“That I don’t know,” Kelnmiir said with a shrug. “But it’s your problem now, I’ve exhausted my strength ... unless someone would like to donate a little blood ... four pints would do it ...”

“That’s enough,” Caiten snapped, interrupting him. “We’ll keep that option as a last resort.”

“As you wish,” the vampire said with a shrug. “To be quite honest, even at my strongest ... I still wouldn’t be able to handle a golem all on my own.”

The golem was striding rapidly in our direction again.

“Does it have any weak points?” asked Neville, shaking his bent spear belligerently.

“It’s a block of metal,” Kelnmiir replied wearily. “What weak points can a block of metal have?”

I waved the broom again, but this time the golem wasn’t completely overwhelmed. It took three waves to throw him back to a safe distance.

“Am I imagining it, or is that thing starting to resist?” I asked in amazement.

“What did you expect?” Kelnmiir laughed. “That’s not a toy, it’s absolutely top-class magic. Golems are capable of learning, and by the way, they classify anyone who gets in their way as enemies.”

“Meaning what?” asked Caiten, aghast.

“Meaning that until you interfered, he didn’t regard you as enemies, but now ... now we’re all in the same boat. And I’m afraid it’s going to sink very soon.”

“We’ll see about that,” Caiten said belligerently. “Zach, let him come a bit closer.”

The golem came within thirty feet away of us, but I didn’t use the broom.

Caiten stepped forward and took a little box out of his pocket.

“Kelnmiir, do you happen to know how much this thing weighs?” he asked, biting his lip nervously.

“Somehow I never got around to weighing it,” the vampire said apologetically.

“That’s bad,” Caiten sighed and threw the box at the golem’s feet.

Suddenly there was a flash.

The lower half of the golem disappeared. But the upper half continued moving towards us, only now on its hands instead of its feet.

I had to use the broom again.

“That’s pretty good,” the vampire remarked. He was clearly deriving genuine pleasure from our attempts to stay alive. “You’ve defeated fifty per cent of him.”

“If only he weighed a bit less,” Caiten said with a shrug. “The food storage box has a limited capacity.”

“Well, well,” Kelnmiir said in amazement. “Somehow, using a food storage box against golems is one thing I never thought of. So half of the golem has been reduced in size, and now it’s inside this little box?”

The vampire walked up to the box, intending to take it as a souvenir, but he couldn’t lift it off the floor.

“I think I can guess why these boxes never became very popular,” he remarked. “What’s the point of shrinking objects, if their weight remains the same as before?”

Caiten chuckled and advised the vampire to hide behind our broad shoulders before the golem came back.

Naturally enough, this time it took him a bit longer to reach us.

“Wait Zach,” said Steel. “It’s my turn now.”

He stepped forward, twirled one of the pieces of rope above his head and flung it at the golem. When it touched the golem, the rope twitched as if it was alive, and wrapped the short, half-figure in a tight-fitting cocoon.

“One throw, and the job’s done,” Steel laughed.

“But will the rope hold?” Naive asked suspiciously, holding his club at the ready just in case.

“Well, we have time to get out of here before the golem can free himself,” said Caiten, putting a damper on our fighting spirit.

“But what about the teleport?” I reminded him. “The invaders have found their way into the Museum too. What’s to stop them using the exhibits, just like us?”

“Maybe it wasn’t the invaders?” Steel suggested.

“Then it’s even more important,” I countered. “We have to find out who got into the Museum and then take appropriate action.”

“But what if the Craftsmen locked in the hall need help while we’re up here?” Steel persisted. “We have to get down there to help them. It may be too late.”

“Calm down, lads,” Caiten said in a conciliatory tone. “We have to go back to the teleport anyway, and we can search the Museum on the way. Let’s not waste time arguing.”

We were forced to agree. But Steel was starting to get on my nerves, and I decided to keep an eye on him ... just to be on the safe side.

“We’ll split up, but keep each other in sight all the time,” Caiten ordered. “Kelnmiir, can you move about normally?”

“I can move about all right,” the vampire said airily, “only don’t expect any help from me if there’s a scrap ... but then, maybe I’ll find something interesting along the way ...”

So that was what we decided. And Kelnmiir went with me.

“Zach,” he said, as soon as we’d walked away from the others. “Did you know that you’ve been hypnotised? If I had more time, I could even say exactly what kind of hypnosis was used on you.”

“I know that already,” I muttered. I didn’t feel like talking just then. What Steel had said about us being late had really spoiled my mood.

“I think I can guess who you’re worried about,” the vampire continued.

“So?” I said in an even less friendly voice.

Kelnmiir suddenly stopped and picked an object up off the floor.

“Alice is all right. If anything had happened to her, I would have sensed it.”

“How come?” I asked in surprise. “Can vampires really sense each other?”

“Sometimes,” Kelnmiir replied. “It doesn’t happen very often, but it does happen. For instance, close relatives are connected.”

“Oh sure,” I laughed. “What kind of fool do you take me for? You and Alice are from completely different clans. How could you be related?”

“Believe it or not, we are,” said the vampire, exposing his fangs in a broad smile.

“And does this connection tell you with complete certainty that she’s fine?”

Kelnmiir thought for a moment.

“Not with complete certainty,” he replied eventually. “She could be a prisoner, she could be drugged or tied up, but one thing I can say for certain. Alice is alive and no one is hurting her.”

I thought about that. If Alice was alive and no one was hurting her, she must be all right, and she was with Chas too. That was reassuring.

“And just what is this connection?” I asked.

“She’s my great-granddaughter,” Kelnmiir replied

“How’s that possible?” I asked, flabbergasted, and immediately stumbled into something and collapsed on the floor.

“Quiet.” Kelnmiir hissed, dropping to the floor beside me. “Look.”

I looked where he was pointing and saw three trolls walking straight towards us. The stone carcasses were moving quietly, stepping very softly, which was why we hadn’t heard them.

“Look how quietly they’re walking. Clever lads,” Kelnmiir remarked, then thought for a moment and added: “For trolls.”

“I hope the others managed to hide in time,” I whispered.

“I’m afraid not,” Kelnmiir sighed when the trolls changed direction sharply. “Let’s crawl after them, if anything happens, we’ll attack them from the rear.”

As it happens, crawling along while holding a broom is not very convenient. But how Kelnmiir managed with his ... what was that thing he’d found on the floor? Oh, it was the sword I’d decided not to take. It had to be heavy. And he had the poleaxe. That was for cutting through metal. How did he manage to crawl with all that stuff?

“You should have taken the war hammer as well,” I jibed, I just couldn’t resist it.

“Did you see a hammer?” Kelnmiir asked in surprise.

“It’s too late,” I sighed. “We left it behind.”

“Maybe we should go back?” the vampire suggested, but then quickly changed his mind. “No ... we could miss the most interesting part.”

“Let’s crawl a bit faster,” I suggested. “By the way, why are we crawling, when the trolls disappeared round the corner?”

“I don’t know ... it’s ... what do they call it? The spirit of the hunt ... isn’t that it?”

“No,” I hissed quietly, getting up off the floor. “It’s not the spirit of the hunt, it’s just plain dumb.”

“All right then,” the vampire said.

He got up off the floor and swung the sword and the poleaxe across his shoulder in swashbuckling style, only avoiding slicing my head off by a miracle. And just at that moment we heard a loud clang from round the corner ...

“It’s started!” I yelled, and went running to the aid of my friends, with my broom held at the ready.

But they didn’t need our help. When we leapt round the corner about fifty yards away from the fight, only one of the three trolls was still standing, and Neville and Naive were already advancing on him in a pincers movement. Caiten was standing at one side, evidently coordinating their actions, but I couldn’t see where Steel was.