The Beasts of Upton Puddle (28 page)

“What can I do?”

“Not much. I don't know how long Thumbler has left, but I'm not sure I can hang on much longer. We've been surviving on a bottle of elixir I always keep on me, but I gave the last of it to my friend here this morning.” She smiled at the troll who had closed his tiny eyes. “If it wasn't for Thumbler, I might be dead now.”

“What happened?”

Mrs. Merrynether sighed and wrestled with her breathing.

“No,” said Joe. “Don't worry. It can wait. Just rest. Heinrich will be here any minute. You'll see.”

He held her hand.

“It's all right, Joseph. I need to talk. I have to stay awake. At least until I've . . . told you . . .”

“Told me what?”

“I have so much to tell you, Joseph—so much. I wanted to wait. Needed to tell you about all this years later, but now things are different. If I—” She coughed. “If I don't survive, Danariel will tell you everything you need to know. Heinrich will help too.”

Joe pursed his lips. He had a lot to say too, and none of it was good. “It won't come to that,” he said after a moment. “Tell me what happened.”

“Later. There are other things much more important that have to be said.”

“What could be more important than you?” Joe fought the welling tears.

“There's an island. Many islands, most of them hidden. You won't find them on any map. But one particular island is very important. The inhabitants call it Pyronesia.”

“I've never heard of it.”

“You wouldn't have. Many years ago, I was on an expedition with a large team. Heinrich was with me.” She smiled. “We were heading deep into the Indian Ocean. There was a storm, and just when we thought we would all lose our lives, the island was revealed to us.”

“Revealed? Couldn't you see it before?”

“No, the inhabitants have a way with minds. If they act collectively, they are able to convince travelers there's nothing there. You already know one of them.”

“Danariel.”

“Yes.” Mrs. Merrynether didn't acknowledge the pain in his reply. “Many seraphim live on Pyronesia, but they are not alone. The island is like . . .” Her eyelids sagged, and Joe had to squeeze her hand to keep her awake. “The island is like a giant ark. It is home to a multitude of different species that most people believe are fictitious.”

“So that's where all your animals have been coming from? Pyronesia?”

“Most of them, yes.”

“But why? Why can't they be treated on the island? How did you become their doctor?”

Mrs. Merrynether coughed again. “It's complicated. For the moment, all you need to know . . . all you need
to know is there are rulers on the island that hate humanity and want to destroy it. A small minority disagree with them and . . . asked for my help. I . . . agreed.”

“By being a doctor? I don't understand.”

Mrs. Merrynether said no more. Her head sagged to one side, and no matter how hard Joe tried to shake her, she didn't respond. He felt her wrist, checking for a pulse. It was weak and slow.

“Mrs. Merrynether,” he shouted.

She didn't respond.

But something else did. A scratching came from farther down the burrow, followed by fast scuffling and the shifting of earth. At first, Joe thought it may have been Heinrich, but a flash of fangs and the gleam of a green eye shattered his hopes.

The Beast moved slowly toward them, its hot breath belching out in clouds, a growl rumbling from its chest.

“Get back,” Joe shouted. He tried to grab both Mrs. Merrynether and the troll child in a futile effort to pull them back out of the monster's range, but there was no hope. He looked at the size of its talons and tried not to think about what they would do to him.

“Whether you're a traitor or not, Heinrich,” Joe said to himself, “I need you. Please hurry.”

As if in answer to Joe's plea, a ferocious roar bellowed into the burrow from above. Joe lay pressed against the dirt, sharp stones cutting into his back, the unconscious Mrs. Merrynether on one side and the unmoving form of the little troll, Thumbler, on the other. The Beast stopped to look up into the night, the slits of its eyes narrowing as the moonlight shone upon it. Two yellow catlike eyes stared back down at them but only for an instant. Joe braced himself as something bulky with red fur launched into the burrow, huge paws reaching, talons extended.

“Cornelius!”

A savage dance of crimson and charcoal hair played out in front of Joe as the two creatures grappled. Howls and roars rang, claws penetrated flesh, and he had to duck when the manticore's tail flailed in a tight arc toward the Beast. A large claw caught the spiky appendage before
it made deadly contact. This fight would not be over quickly.

“Joe!” a familiar voice called from above. “Give me your hand.” Heinrich's dark silhouette almost blotted out the light at the opening of the burrow. At his side, the two globbles bobbed in excitement.

“Heinrich, great timing! I've got Mrs. Merrynether down here and a young troll too.”

“Reach up,” Heinrich stretched a great hand, and Joe felt the strong fingers grasp his wrist and haul him out of danger.

The brutal battle continued in the burrow as Heinrich dropped inside to recover Mrs. Merrynether. Joe stared into the dark, unable to make out what was happening, but it seemed Heinrich was waving something like smelling salts in front of Mrs. Merrynether's nose while shielding her from the shower of soil exploding from the brawl beside them.

“I wish I could see properly like you, Flarp,” Joe said.

“Perhaps I can help,” someone else said.

A flood of silver-blue light filled the burrow, illuminating the action below.

A bloodcurdling howl ripped through the night as the distraction allowed Cornelius to strike a painful blow to the Beast. The wounded animal retreated, speeding through the tunnels the way it had come. Cornelius let it leave.

Joe turned around to see who had spoken, not daring
to believe what his eyes and ears had suggested. But it was true. Hovering in the air, just above Flarp and his friend, Danariel smiled at him.

“Danariel! But Redwar said you were dead.”

She giggled. “You shouldn't take any notice of a man like that, Joe. He's about as good at telling the truth as his guards are at marksmanship.”

“So you're not even hurt?” Joe's tears flowed freely now.

“Of course not,” she said, drifting down to stroke his cheek. “I pretended to be hit right after I heard the first gunshot, then found a burrow and hid in the tunnels.”

“I thought you were dead.” Joe sobbed.

“Well, I'm fine, and you should be very proud. I don't know what happened to you since we had to separate, but Flarp has a new friend and we've found Mrs. Merrynether.”

“I didn't do much.”

Heinrich struggled out of the burrow with a delirious Mrs. Merrynether clinging to his back.

Cornelius leapt from the hole slashed and ruffled but alert. He roared in triumph as the other creatures gathered.

Heinrich jumped back into the burrow and appeared a few moments later with the limp troll.

“We're too late,” he said. “This fellow is dead.”

“Bring him with us,” said Mrs. Merrynether, barely conscious. “Thumbler deserves a good burial. He gave his life for me . . . and for us.”

The brief journey to Merrynether Mansion was silent. Each of them had thoughts to contend with, and although Heinrich looked overjoyed to see Mrs. Merrynether again, Joe saw trouble in the old man's eyes.

Emotions—grief, elation, fear, and uncertainty—balled together in Joe's mind, each one demanding its own special attention. Which to listen to?

Arriving at the vault didn't help Joe sort out his feelings much either. Left to their own devices, Kiyoshi and Lilly had launched into a full-scale verbal war. Meanwhile, Snappel the wyvern lay on the vault floor surrounded by apples from a split sack. Apparently she'd been let out of her enclosure, torn the cloth open, and then gorged a ridiculous amount of the fruit, leaving her bloated and incapacitated.

The scene would normally have amused Joe, but what he really wanted right now was a bath, relief from the throbbing in his head, and sleep.

He guessed Mrs. Merrynether felt far worse. Heinrich helped her to his chair and brought her a plate of biscuits with a mug of tea and a fresh bottle of elixir. Fresh blood trickled onto the floor from the wound in her leg, but Heinrich was already unrolling gauze from a first aid kit and attending to it.

Joe sat by the wall and watched the warfare near the back of the vault. Kiyoshi, so involved in his dispute with Lilly, seemed not to have noticed them as they walked in. The disgruntled kappa was trundling
up and down the length of the vault, trying to locate Lilly, who was, as usual, shouting his abuse from a hidden location.

“May da devil himself trow up in dat stupid horl in da top a ya head.”

“. . . and furthermore,” Kiyoshi said over Lilly's insult, “you are nothing but a pilgarlic, sir, and your argumentative methods are nothing more than fragmented galimatius. I am quite certain your motivation is to distract me from the real matter at hand—namely, why you chose to release the wyvern. However, you need not concern yourself with explanations. I see no further advantage in debating our current predicament with an inebriated leprechaun.”

“Leprechaun? Leprechaun? How dares ya!” An empty beer can bounced off the floor next to Kiyoshi. “Oi'm a cluricaun, and don't ya forget it.”

“Far be it for me to ultracrepidate. I know exactly what I'm talking about. There is absolutely no difference between you and a leprechaun—you are both classified as belonging to the Maddus midgetus irritabilius class.”

“You jost made dat up.”

“I did not!”

“You can kiss moi shoiny pink—”

Snappel hiccoughed, and a puff of fire belched into the air, singeing Kiyoshi's hair.

“I say!”

“Quiet!” Mrs. Merrynether's voice shattered the
bickering. She slammed the bottle of elixir onto Heinrich's desk, making the half-eaten biscuits jump on the plate. Clearly the food and drink had boosted her strength. “We have urgent issues to discuss. Heinrich, see to . . . Is that a wyvern?”

“Her name is Snappel, Ronnie. I'll get her back in her enclosure.”

“Will you help him, Kiyoshi?” Mrs. Merrynether asked.

“May I remind you that I am a patient in your care and not a mindless bulldozer to be employed for your kinetic requests. However, I am pleased to see your safe return. I will do as you ask.”

While Heinrich and the kappa manhandled the incapacitated lizard into its enclosure, Danariel bustled the two globbles to the back of the vault and into their own pens for the night.

Joe stepped forward. “Mrs. Merrynether.” His heart raced with the burden of what he needed to say, and his headache surged. “Before you tell us anything, there's something you should know.”

He stared at Heinrich, who froze in the middle of dragging the wyvern's tail inside the enclosure. “Are you going to tell her, or shall I?” Joe said.

Heinrich returned Joe's stare, and silence fell as they searched each other's soul.

Heinrich's gaze dropped to the floor. “I should attend to Kiyoshi. He is falling asleep.”

“If you don't tell her, I have to.”

“Tell me what?” Mrs. Merrynether looked at each of them.

“Heinrich?” Joe pleaded.

The old man didn't look up. Instead, he concerned himself with positioning the kappa in such a way that his head was resting on the tip of the wyvern's tail.

“Mrs. Merrynether . . . Heinrich has . . . been writing letters to Argoyle Redwar for years. He's the one that's been passing on information, and he's even been sending him money.”

Heinrich dropped the wyvern's tail and looked up. In the space of a heartbeat, his expression changed from remorse to fury.

“What? You lying filth!” Heinrich spat. “I would never—”

“It's true,” said Joe, shocked by Heinrich's fury. “I saw the letters with my own eyes in Redwar's safe, written by his own hand.”

“Ronnie. Don't believe him. It is not true.”

Mrs. Merrynether opened her mouth but didn't speak.

“It
is
true. Mrs. Merrynether, I know you haven't known me very long, but—”

Heinrich launched forward like an enraged bull, his fingers outstretched and his eyes murderous. Cornelius jumped between them and bellowed at Heinrich, his tail arched over their heads. At the same time, an empty beer bottle rebounded from the back of the old man's head.

As quickly as the rage showed on Heinrich's face, a new expression of distress replaced it, followed by utter confusion. He staggered back for a moment, gazed tearfully at Mrs. Merrynether, then ran for the vault door. He paused with a hand on the doorknob. “I'll see to it that you regret saying such things.”

No one stopped him as he ran up the steps and out of the mansion. Silence came again for a full minute.

“I'm sorry, Mrs. Merrynether. I didn't expect him to act like that. He seemed so . . . sorry about it all when I confronted him before.”

“I . . . can't believe it.”

“We think Redwar must have some sort of hold on him. Blackmail, perhaps.”

“Not Heinrich, no. He was always such a noble man. So strong. How did you find out about this, Joseph?”

“We broke into Redwar's building thinking he'd kidnapped you, but instead of finding you, we found his safe. He's been keeping all of Heinrich's letters and putting them in there.”

Mrs. Merrynether nodded ruefully. “It's all starting to make sense. I don't know why Heinrich did what he did, but . . .” Her voice trembled as she placed one hand on his desk, as though she could somehow reach the old man through the wooden surface. “But I already know what Redwar was trying to find out from him.”