The Hounds of Avalon (Gollancz S.F.) (58 page)

Hal ran, scared now that what he had unleashed might prove worse than the threat he had sought to eliminate. The man who resembled a devil, with horns and cloven hooves, stalked past, completely oblivious to Hal; there was murder in his eyes and a smell of brimstone about him. Further on, Bearskin hunched over a bundle of bloody rags, feeding.

Finally, Hal came to a dark, deserted room and flung himself inside. He slammed the door shut and slipped down to the floor, listening to the constant padding of feet without, and the sounds of rending, and the running, and the screams, until he covered his ears and bowed his head and wished he was a boy again.

Oxford felt like Christmas Eve as Hunter, Mallory and Caitlin ran through the deserted streets. Preternaturally quiet, with the snow lying heavy on the rooftops and roads, there was something uncannily magical about the city. Occasionally, they glimpsed shimmering buildings, ghostly in blue, hovering just behind the familiar ancient landmarks. Just a trick of the light, they told themselves.

Somewhere, Ruth Gallagher was harrying the remnants of the Lament-Brood to destruction. It was in all their minds: once she had been like them, someone struggling to do the right thing against impossible odds, and now she had risen to the status of legend. A human become god. And so it was for all the Five who had fought at the Fall: gods and demi-gods, angels – and even, in Veitch, a devil to haunt the nightmares of the people. Great, greater, greatest.

Yet this time it was down to the three of them, and Sophie wherever she was, and the mysterious fifth, to defeat something of such magnitude that it was defined as the opposite of life. It didn’t seem right; it certainly wasn’t fair.

Only Hunter had reached any kind of accommodation with the dilemma. For him, it was simply a matter of acceptance. Samantha’s death had removed any link he had with the rest of the world.
He had no need of softness or any care for his own survival. Now it was simply death or glory.

And so they arrived at Brasenose. At first glance it appeared deserted, though lights glared from the windows. No sounds of life greeted them as they ventured into the echoing corridors.

‘Maybe they all evacuated when the Lament-Brood came,’ Mallory hissed.

Hunter shook his head. ‘When the Government first moved here, they restructured this place for high security. It wouldn’t make sense for them to leave – they’d be safer here than anywhere else.’

Caitlin stopped moving and sniffed the air. ‘There are people here. Down below.’

‘You can smell them?’ Mallory said incredulously. ‘You know what, sometimes you are an extremely creepy woman.’

Her smile was a challenge. ‘You don’t know the half of it.’

‘Then we should proceed with extreme caution,’ Hunter said. ‘Either they’re gathered for the execution, or they’re barricaded in waiting to blow the heads off anyone who turns up.’ He crept stealthily to the end of the corridor and sneaked a glimpse around the corner.

‘You’ve done this kind of thing before, haven’t you?’ Mallory said wearily.

‘Once or twice. Luckily for you.’

‘Me, I’d just charge in with sword swinging.’

‘Like I said, luckily for you one of us knows what they’re doing.’

Hunter led the way down a short flight of stairs to the lower level. At the bottom step, Caitlin caught his arm. ‘Someone’s nearby,’ she mouthed. She paused, raised her head slightly. ‘It’s—’

‘Over here.’ Sophie beckoned them urgently. At the end of the corridor, she was staggering under Shavi’s weight, who was pale and a little delirious. The others ran up to relieve her.

Mallory grabbed her by the shoulders, unable to restrain his joy. ‘Are you all right?’

‘Fine.’ She forced a smile, but Mallory could see that she was lying.

‘What’s wrong?’

‘Nothing.’

‘You don’t fool me. Spit it out.’

She pulled him towards her and kissed him with a surprising passion that spoke of desperation and loss. When she broke off, she said quietly, ‘Don’t ask me any more. I can’t tell you. Not now.’

‘Later?’

She nodded, but there was a deep sadness shadowing her smile that Mallory didn’t notice. He was distracted by Hunter gently slapping Shavi’s cheeks to bring him round.

‘He’s been in a trance,’ Sophie said. ‘There were some things he needed to find out. But then he started raving, as if … as if what he saw was too terrible to believe. And then he ended up like this.’

‘Have you found anyone down here?’ Hunter asked her as he continued to try to bring Shavi back to consciousness.

‘There was a lot of commotion along that way.’ She motioned in the direction of the high-security wing. ‘We found some guards dead … butchered. That’s when we decided to come back to look for you. If there’s anyone left alive, they must have locked themselves in somewhere secure.’

Caitlin nodded. ‘That’s what we thought, too.’

‘Then maybe they haven’t had time to carry out the execution,’ Hunter said with some relief.

Hunter’s insistent efforts finally brought Shavi round, his eyes gradually focusing. He tried to support his own weight, staggered, then succeeded in propping himself against the wall.

‘The things I saw,’ he said, shuddering at the memory. The horror in his voice chilled them all.

‘What’s up, Shavi?’ Mallory clapped the arm of the man he had come to consider a good friend.

Shavi managed a wan smile. ‘I saw the Cailleach Bheur filling the universe with ice and snow. The White Walker has failed. The Fimbulwinter …’ He gasped, took a deep breath. ‘The prophecy of the Fimbulwinter at the end of the world, the coming of the Void – both are linked. The End-Winter comes because the final days are near … and the final days are near because the Void has come. But the Void needs the extreme cold to exist. It can’t abide heat. It comes from beyond the edge of the universe where there is no light or warmth. It has been here, gestating in the cold, waiting until the moment is right—’

‘Here?’ Hunter grabbed Shavi’s arm. ‘Where?’

Shavi shook his head. ‘I saw so many things … I saw the
followers of Veitch prepare a ritual of such magnitude that it sent ripples through the world. Black T-shirts, red V, faces like rainy city nights.’ His eyes were glazing over again as the images paraded across his mind. ‘They were drawing on the dark energy the Void brought in its wake, trying to bring him back, calling to his wandering spirit, corrupting it with the blackness, sucking all hope and chance of redemption from it.’

‘Veitch is coming back?’ Mallory asked. ‘Are you saying he’s becoming part of the Void?’

‘I don’t know, I don’t know …’ Shavi was slipping away again.

Hunter shook him roughly. ‘Come on. Focus. We need to know what’s going on.’

‘And I saw … I saw …’ Shavi looked at Sophie and fell silent at the expression in her eyes. ‘There is no more I can tell you. The Void is here. It is ready to do what its nature has prepared it to do. The rest is not important.’

Hunter turned to the others, his face grim. ‘We need to find the fifth quickly. Then get out of here and locate the Void … before it gets us first.’

‘Bloody hell! Can’t you say the name yet?’ Mallory said.

‘No!’ Sophie gripped his wrist so tightly that her nails raised blood.

It was clear to Mallory that she knew more than she was saying; he accepted her plea with a silent nod.

‘Leave me here,’ Shavi insisted. ‘This is no longer my business. It is the time of the new Five now. Only you can save … everything.’

‘In case you haven’t noticed,’ Mallory said, unable to hide the bitterness in his voice, ‘there’s only four of us.’

Shavi slumped into a cross-legged position, his back against the wall, and lapsed into unconsciousness once more. That was the way they left him, a faint transcendental smile on his face, like a saint about to be led to his death.

The four of them made their way towards the high-security wing. All the cells were silent, their once-noisy occupants either dead or stilled in the gloom. They came across the corpses of many guards in various states of butchery, but whatever had slaughtered them appeared long gone.

‘Is it me or is it colder in here?’ Mallory said.

Caitlin exhaled heavily; a white cloud bloomed from her lips. ‘It’s colder,’ she said.

Hunter drew his sword; Mallory followed suit, the flames of Llyrwyn painting the walls and ceiling a brilliant blue. Caitlin balanced an axe carefully in each hand; the light of the Morrigan began to come on in her eyes. Sophie followed behind, head slightly bowed, her hands at her sides.

They turned into another corridor and were shocked to see the walls glistening with a rime of frost; it was as if they’d stepped into a butcher’s meat locker. The lights here were eerily dimmer, and further on the corridor progressed into darkness.

‘Looks like this is it,’ Hunter said redundantly.

The words had barely left his lips when a security door crashed shut behind them. They started in shock, but it was too late: their exit had been cut off. As they turned back, another security door, this time barred like a jail cell, slid into place ahead of them.

Hunter took point as doors further along the corridor opened slowly. Reid was one of the first to emerge, but behind him Hunter could just make out the shadowy figures of Government officials, the Cabinet, senior advisors who had once been the captains of industry, the aristocrats, the financial sector’s biggest players.

‘Open the doors,’ Hunter said. ‘We’re here to protect you.’

Reid stood before them, carefully surveying Mallory, Caitlin and Sophie before moving his attention to Hunter. ‘Still only four of you?’

‘Reid, time is running out.’ Hunter attempted to moderate his voice against the urgency that was straining every fibre of his being. ‘The thing that’s behind the invasion is already here. We need to find it – destroy it – before it wipes everything out.’

‘I know exactly where it is.’

Hunter was struck dumb by the quiet confidence in Reid’s voice.

Reid motioned further down the corridor. On the edge of the crepuscular zone, Hunter saw the frozen door that he had noticed when freeing Mallory. ‘It’s been here for a long time, Mister Hunter.’

Realisation crept up on Hunter, but not comprehension or acceptance.

Mallory, a man who mistrusted all authority, grasped the
situation instantly. ‘You’re working for it.’ His eyes blazed as brightly as his sword.

‘In a way.’

‘It’s controlling you,’ Caitlin ventured. ‘It’s a very seductive power—’

Reid silenced her with a simple shake of his head. ‘People who deal with power on a daily basis are pragmatic. That is the most vital quality for any political leader—’

‘What about honour?’ Mallory interrupted, his voice cold and hard. ‘Integrity, ethics?’

‘Unnecessary,’ Reid replied. ‘Oh, lovely, lovely qualities, of course. No one would disagree with that. But completely useless for the job of leadership. The traits you mentioned are useful for winning one great battle. But then you have to retire. Politics is about winning battles every day, little ones, mundane ones. You need to be pragmatic to retain power so that you can continue to do that.’

‘Politics,’ Mallory sneered. Behind him, Caitlin was checking the security door for a way out.

‘Oh, politics is the most important thing of all, because it’s about the way we live our lives. Every decision is a political decision. Most of us who work to keep things running can’t afford the luxury of fighting for a cause, like you, however worthy that cause might be. We need to make sure that we stay in power so that we continue to live our lives the right way.’

‘Which implies that
your
way is the right way.’ Hunter was trying to buy the others time to find a way to break free; it was a clumsy attempt, but Reid didn’t appear to mind.

‘It
is
the right way. It’s been proven by time. It’s been accepted by the majority of the people, and consequently it is, by definition, normal. Any opposing view is therefore aberrant, and something to be resisted.’ The most chilling aspect about Reid was his calm expression of his views. There was no hatred there, no contempt or anger, not even any superiority. He was like someone patiently explaining a scientific fact to the uneducated.