Dark Kingdom Read online

  “Do you know about the order?” said Sparrow.

  “I did not.”

  “I am a member of the Order of the Ring’s council, and am the only person here qualified to talk on their behalf, although I take my orders from someone else.”

  “This Miss Toper?”

  “Yes.”

  Fenston looked at the ring on Sparrows finger.

  “The rings are the source of your magic?”

  “For a magi they are, for myself they increase my strength, stamina and such. Your enemy now has four of them.”

  “And dragons,” said Darren.

  “Yes those beasts are proving to be most troublesome. Would you be willing to lend us your ring so we can study it?”

  Algorine shifted uncomfortably in her chair.

  “You can study it, but it stays on my finger.”

  Fenston looked at Craig, who nodded in reply. “Good, I appreciate your cooperation.”

  “What about our friends?” said Darren. “They were taken!”

  Vic sighed.

  “What do you want us to do about them?” said Fenston.

  Darren was slightly taken aback by the response. “Umm . . . help us get them back.”

  “We have no idea where they are, and even if we did, I presume they are heavily guarded, being most valuable to our enemies. Right now, if I’m being honest we are just trying to stop the enemy from gaining any more territory.” He smiled to himself. “You know. When this all started the high-ups in government were convinced the creatures the public were seeing were from other planets, with advanced technology. The thing is, they might as well have been. Our armed forces are not equipped to fight them. But we mustn’t lose hope. We are fast learners!”

  Darren nodded.

  “I have other matters that need my attention, but I hope all of you choose to stay with us. None of you are prisoners here.” He then nodded at Craig, smiled towards those around the table and left.

  The younger man whose tie was now more aptly positioned around his neck, approached Sparrow. “Please come with me.”

  She slowly got to her feet and walked with him to the door. “We’ll talk more later.” she said to the others, then left.

  Those around the table looked at each other, then finally most eyes fell on Vic.

  “I thought you was going to protect her!” said Darren standing.

  Vic frowned trying to find a place to rest his eyes. “We did what we could.”

  “You have to help us find our friends,” said Nell.

  “My orders are to look after all of you, on this base. If you leave there’s nothing I can do.”

  Darren shook his head, mumbling to himself then sat back down.

  Algorine stood and walked to Vic, standing just a few inches from his face. “You owe us.”

  He looked away, not wanting to meet her eyes. “I was doing my job.”

  “I can tell the professor now has a thing for you, seeing you brought him all this juicy intel, including a live Fae woman and a member of the order’s council. And we haven’t caused you any problems, have we? Well now it’s time you used some of that good favour with the old man and helped us find our friends.”

  Vic sighed and shook his head slightly. He then looked straight into the eyes of the Fae woman in front of him. “What do you want exactly?”

  CHAPTER 35

  Kat looked at the stained brickwork of the inside of her makeshift cell. Since they took her ring, her limbs felt twice as heavy and the world around her seemed less focussed. She didn’t realise just how much of an effect her grandfather’s ring had, had on her. But that wasn’t the only weight on her mind. It was her fault they lost to Goran and all those people died. If I had been stronger . . .

  She got up from her uncomfortable bed and walked to the small slit of a window and looked out into the bright white of the day. She could only see a slither of the courtyard outside, but it was enough to make out soldiers in medieval garb and creature things, which she wouldn’t know how to describe beyond saying they had come from fairytales.

  She walked back to the bed and climbed under the single sheet she was given, pulling her knees into her chest.

  Her mind drifted back to the day in the care home, when she saw Arnold in his bed, and the things he said to her. She closed her eyes wanting the images to go. He had put so much faith in her. She sniggered to herself. I am the worst Ordained in the history of the Order. I only had my ring for a few weeks.

  She looked upwards. “Sorry Grandfather. I—”

  A knock came at the door. Before she could respond, it opened and a man appeared whose face was burned into her mind.

  “You!” Instantly she sat up and threw her now ringless right hand out in front of her. Her face returned to anguish when she remembered what was no longer there.

  The man in the cloak had a quick look outside, then swiftly moved into the small room, closing the secure door quietly behind him.

  Kat gathered up the sheet in front of her and backed up against the headboard. “Leave me the fuck alone!”

  The man sat on the end of the bed. “Kat, it’s me Gus!”

  What?

  “What? You’re Jax, the bastard that caused all this mess!”

  “No, magic was used to change my appearance, I’m Gus Pascal of house Percival. I came here to kill the cyning . . . but there were many things that we didn’t know when we conceived that plan.”

  Kat’s eyes begun to widen. “But how do I know it’s you? How do I know this is not some kind of mind trick?”

  The man wearing Jax’s appearance looked down, then back up. “A few days ago, you were training under the London sanctuary, you exploded a—”

  “Rock . . . It is you!”

  “Shh . . . keep your voice down.”

  “They have my ring!” she whispered with urgency.

  “There’s no way to get that back right now, the cyning has it.”

  “Who’s this cyning?”

  “It’s Arthur, he’s returned.”

  She looked confused. “Arthur? Arthur who . . . what...? ‘The’ Arthur? He died over a thousand years ago!”

  “He never died. Merlin couldn’t kill the man he raised as a son. So he banished him to the netherworld. It is a realm that no one has ever returned from. Until now.”

  “How did you learn this?”

  “Jax. We captured him.”

  “We have to get Justin and Eden and get out of here!”

  Gus shook his head. “My mission was to kill Arthur.”

  “You just said he has the rings, how could you even do that?”

  “We crafted a weapon . . . but now he has your ring . . . maybe you’re right.”

  “Do you know where Eden and Justin are?”

  “I heard talk that Eden is in the dungeon. As for Justin, I have seen him. Arthur appears to have taken a shine to him.”

  “What?”

  “Has Arthur seen you yet? “

  “I don’t think so.”

  “Good, then I need to find another young girl in this castle. Wait here and don’t open the door for anyone but me.” He got up and left.

  “But it’s locked from the outside . . .”

  * * * * *

  The sound inside the helicopter was deafening, but it didn’t affect Algorine’s thoughts as the frozen landscape sailed by, just a hundred feet beneath them. The first part of the answer to Vic’s question was simple. She wanted what they had already given Fenston and his cohorts, intel. But the kind of information that only the military would have. Specifically, maps of where the army had engaged the enemy, and the enemy’s troop movements. It didn’t take long for her to work out that something was going on in Warwickshire, and then even a shorter amount of time to realise that the castle is exactly the kind of place Goran would call home. A few hours later drone footage was streaming into the central operations room, showing a scene of biblical proportions. Field after field of soldiers and equipment which belonged in the dar
k ages, along with the creatures that most thought were just from nightmares. She now had a target for where Kat and the others were most likely being held.

  Once she had that, the second part of the question become easier. She needed access to a stealthy helicopter to get her up there to the castle. At first Fenston protested, but she was always good at persuading people. An hour later, she along with Nell, Vic, Hunt and Mills were in the air gliding across the frozen British countryside.

  The historic towns of Gloucester and Cheltenham passed by, almost missable beneath layers of white and without any lights in the dark, and soon they were looking down upon the birthplace of the bard. A short time later they were only a few miles from the town which sat alongside the castle.

  Vic looked at the others in the cabin with him. “Get ready, we’re almost at the drop-off point,” he said into his microphone. “NVGs on!”

  Everyone but Algorine slid the night-vision goggles down over their eyes.

  The helicopter dropped down to be just a few feet above the motorway, which it followed for a few miles, then it slowed and gently lowered to the snow-covered ground.

  Vic jumped down first, quickly followed by the others. The helicopter’s large rotors hardly made a sound as it rotated silently then sped off in the direction from which they came.

  They all crouched, listening for any sounds around them, but a wall of silence filled the night.

  Vic briefly looked at his GPS coordinates, and then at the digital display detailing the direction they needed to move in. Before the drone was destroyed in a wall of flame, it showed that the town was the only possible route to the castle where they might have a chance of not being discovered.

  Keeping close together then ran over the compacted snow keeping to the motorway. Every now and again a gap would open up in the blanket of trees and small flickering points of light would be visible in the distance.

  Vic pointed to the south, and scrambled over a fence, landing knee-deep in snow at the back of a garden. The others followed.

  A sprawling estate of mostly single-storey suburban homes surrounded them. Using the buildings as cover they stomped their way through snow mounds, using more solid objects as platforms to walk on, and moved past the rows of buildings.

  Algorine noticed the snow had almost climbed to the level of one of the houses roof, and climbed up onto it. She pulled from her pack a small set of binoculars she had been given back at the military base and scanned the scene to the south.

  Vic climbed up as well and stood behind her. “What you see?”

  “Not much movement in the town, but beyond . . . here, look for yourself.” She handed the eyepieces to Vic, who shook his head when seeing what she had.

  “Let’s hope there’s some sewers in that town.”

  “The castle’s well lit, they’re not exactly hiding anymore.”

  “No.”

  He handed her back the binoculars and they both climbed back down to the others.

  Shortly after they passed over a small bridge. The river below was not merely frozen but was buried under feet of snow, bringing it almost to the same level as the banks bordering it.

  On the other side, the buildings became more industrial. As they fought their way through the snowdrifts, the large block-like structures gave way to terraced multi-storey houses lining street after street, which then transformed into impressive Georgian and Victorian buildings.

  The sky ahead was awash with yellow and green glows, which shimmered and sparked.

  Scuffling and the sound of grunts echoed around the buildings in front of them making them all freeze. Vic held his hand up and they all crouched while he crept forward, peering around the corner of a large important-looking home. Some humanoid forms wearing light green were staggering towards them, while others were entering and leaving the homes along the street they were in. Turning back to the others, he pointed in the opposite direction, and they all ran along the building into the adjacent road.

  As they passed smashed doors and windows the voices of the creatures just a few yards away behind the buildings could be clearly heard.

  “What language is that?” whispered Hunt to Algorine.

  “It’s an old Celtic dialect, mostly these creatures talk it.”

  Coming to the end of the row of houses the snow sloped down to a tarmacked road, almost clear of ice. The large glass windows of shops reflected what little light there was in the sky.

  “We’re not far from the entrance to the castle grounds. Looks like they have been bringing vehicles in through here, and keeping it clear.” said Vic.

  “Yeah, lucky for us, look . . .” said Algorine, pointing at a manhole cover.

  She looked both ways into the dark of the row of shops, then slid down the slope and onto the road. She then took her dagger out and started hacking away at the ice that covered the dark, metal cover. Vic joined her and started doing the same with his own knife.

  Noises came from a few hundred yards away to their left.

  “They’re coming!” said Algorine, furiously trying to squeeze the end of her blade between the road and cover and lever it up. Hunt ran down to them and scratched away at the edges of the seal as they all strained to pull the metal plate up.

  Vic looked back along the street and his goggles filled with points of light. “Come on, pull it up!”

  Mills and Nell ran and jammed their fingers into the fledgling gap that was appearing under the cover. With a big heave they pulled it open, and Algorine quickly disappeared into the darkness below. The others swiftly followed while finally Nell grabbed the plate and pulled it snug down above her head. By time she reached the bottom of the rusting ladder to the sewer, heavy footsteps could be heard thudding across the street above.

  CHAPTER 36

  Arthur stood and everyone at the huge circular table went quiet.

  “Compatriots! I stand before you, not just as your cyning but also as your friend. Most of you are from the other realms, banished from this land, your home many eons past. But I have brought you back!”

  Many banged their mugs and goblets on the wooden surface in front of them, while others grunted in approval.

  “But as you have seen, our land has changed,” he sneered. “Brought low by the hand of the modern man! Each one of them craving the power of a king but not willing to take the responsibilities of one! But there has only ever been one ruler, one man who truly is at one with the land, and you see him standing before you!”

  More cheering.

  “Together we will reclaim what has always been ours, which was never theirs and the kingdom will once again be a beacon of truth and justice!”

  The rafters above their heads shook with the enthused slamming of fists and boots into the ground and table. Justin shrunk a little in his chair with each new applause.

  “But for too long each of us has stayed hidden in dusty old books, taught to young children as fables and historical tales. Tonight that changes. For tonight we leave those pages and become very real to those who oppose us!”

  Justin looked around at the men, women and beasts that sat around the circular table. Most of them armoured and holding ancient but very sharp looking weapons. He wasn’t sure what his purpose was for being there, and as he watched the enthused crowd be led by the man at the head of the table he couldn’t help but remember another banquet that he was witness too in Oxford, back when his descent into this world began.

  A number of dark elf warriors marched into the large hall.

  “Now it’s time to show you that not only will we control the present, but soon also the future!”

  Arthur with his accompaniment of soldiers left the hall. One by one those around the table got up and followed them.

  Justin was one of the last to leave the hall and as he walked through the final arched gate out into the chilled night air, his eyes grew wide at the channel of lights that stretched out before him, across the fields and away over the nearby hill. At that point he realised
where they all heading. Towards the ‘circus’ tent.

  * * * * *

  Vic, Algorine and the others traipsed through the icy interior of the sewers, always moving south. Eventually light emanated from up ahead.

  Vic looked at his GPS, but it was just displaying all zero’s. “I got no signal, I don’t know where the hell we are in regard to the castle.”

  They all ran forward into a smaller tunnel causing them to duck lower. At the end was the smell of fresh grass and a pile of snow which covered the lower half of an iron circular gate. Quickly shovelling the snow out of the way revealed a slope which ran down to trees. They could also see pools of light around them just on the other side of the bars.

  “I think this is it, the castle or real close. From here on out we could be spotted. There won’t be any negotiating, we shoot our way in and out if we have too.”

  Everyone nodded.

  He then leaned back and landed his boot on the small chain which held the gate close. After the second attempt the bar gave way, and the gate pushed a few inches outwards into the snow. Pushing his shoulder into it the gate opened all the way.

  He crept out and immediately looked back above his head at the outer castle wall which loomed over him. Flames from a few torches flickered on the battlements but apart from that nobody else could be seen. He beckoned to the others.

  They quickly ran out, sinking into the snow and he pushed the gate closed.

  “Looks like we’re at the east side, there should be a gatehouse to get us further in not far from here. We just follow the wall south,” said Vic.

  Scampering along the bank and using their hands to stop them from sliding down it, the twenty-foot-high block that was the east way into the courtyard appeared.

  “I’m not seeing any guards!” whispered Vic. “Come on! Stay close.”

  They all scrambled up the slope and over the muddy path, standing up against the large straight stones that made up the ancient entry point. Vic then peered around the corner into the courtyard. He frowned, not being sure of what he was seeing. “It looks empty! Where the hell are they . . .”