The Jade Boy Read online

  Cazalon was intoning some words in a language Jem couldn’t understand, and drawing patterns in the dust with his staff.

  Just beyond him Ann’s body lay motionless in the dust, her bloody head turned to the wall.

  Ann! Tears began to stream down the boy’s cheeks as he realised he had failed her too. He wanted to sob aloud, but his body wouldn’t obey him. He couldn’t move, he couldn’t speak. All he could do now was weep silent tears of despair.

  Cazalon looked up from the pattern on the ground and stared at Jem. His black eyes glittered.

  “Ah, Jeremy, you are awake at last,” he whispered across the flames.

  Suddenly Jem’s voice returned. But the words that came were not his.

  “I am, master,” he said. The words tasted like vomit in his mouth.

  Cazalon smiled. “And so we begin.”

  The count began to chant. His voice echoed around the chamber, reverberating from the walls, which picked up the rhythm and amplified the sound so that the air itself seemed to hum.

  Gradually Jem became aware that the slabs of the stone floor within the circle beneath him were beginning to give off a blue glow.

  Cazalon stopped chanting, but the humming sound continued, growing louder and deeper. He threw back his head so that his hair swept the ground, then he called out, “Richard Pinchbeck, Alderman of London, come forth. I cast you to the east.

  Matthew, Marquis of Kilheron, come forth. I cast you to the west.

  Edward, Lord Avebury, come forth. I cast you to the south.

  George, Duke of Bellingdon, come forth. I cast you to the north.”

  The floor of the burning circle glowed more strongly. Four wispy, ghostly figures began to take shape around the edge of the circle and, as Jem watched, he realised that he was seeing the men Cazalon had just named – the duke and the other plotters.

  As the figures became more substantial, Jem could see the men’s faces clearly. They were terrified and seemed to be calling out, although what they were saying couldn’t be heard. Bellingdon held out his hands as if imploring Jem to help him, but the boy couldn’t move.

  Cazalon struck the dusty floor four times with his staff.

  “Watchers at the Gates, take these mortal souls in payment for your power!”

  The cavern was utterly silent for a second and then it was flooded with a blinding explosion of white light that flared from the eyes of the crystal hawk at the tip of the staff.

  The figures now found their voices. With terrible screams, each one of them burned brilliantly and then collapsed in on themselves, shrinking to tiny black pinpoints on the stone floor before disappearing. It was if they had been sucked down into the earth.

  Cazalon smiled in satisfaction as the air began to fill with sound. The noise was like a thousand church organs – all playing different, discordant notes. It was beautiful and terrible at the same time and it made the chamber pulse with an unnatural life of its own. Colour glowed in every stone and the carved walls seemed to ripple and move.

  Cazalon watched him through the flames for a moment and then spoke.

  “Have you come here of your own free will, boy?”

  “I have, master.” Jem struggled, but the foul-tasting words came of their own accord.

  “Did you give me clothing and food?”

  “Yes, master.”

  “You are the first-born son of an anointed king?”

  “I am, master,”

  “Will you allow me to cross the barrier of fire to join you?”

  “Surely, master.”

  Jem felt prickles of terror run down his spine. Inviting Cazalon to join him was the last thing he wanted to do, but he couldn’t stop his tongue.

  The count smiled in triumph, and, leaning on his staff, he stepped through the ring of flames.

  He grinned down at the boy and the pointed tip of his black tongue licked the corner of his mouth. From the folds of his waistcloth, he revealed a curved dagger.

  “And will you allow me to cut out your beating heart?”

  “No!”

  A great shout rang around the chamber, but the words were not Jem’s.

  Tolly barrelled through the ring of the flames, knocking Cazalon to the floor. The count’s staff was jolted from his hand and skittered through the flames, coming to rest next to Ann’s body.

  At the same moment a tiny black and white blur dropped from above and wrapped herself around the man’s head, knotting her tail and limbs into the mane of blue hair. Cleo shrieked and growled as she bit and scratched at the count’s ears and nose with her sharp little teeth and claws.

  Cazalon staggered to his feet and grasped the monkey by the neck. He ripped her from his head and flung her to the floor. Cleo yelped, but Jem noticed that as she fell, she took with her a hank of the man’s hair and a bleeding scrap of his scalp.

  Cazalon spun to face Tolly, drew his dagger and made a swift, vicious lunge in the boy’s direction.

  But Tolly was too quick for him, stepping deftly to one side so that instead of sinking into his throat, the blade merely pierced the linen of his shirt at the shoulder.

  Tolly yelled in pain and gripped the top of his arm. He was wounded. Jem saw bright drops of blood seeping through his friend’s fingers.

  Cazalon’s eyes narrowed. He stood a few feet away from Tolly on the inner edge of the flaming ring and began to laugh.

  “Who would have thought that my animal could talk?” he sneered. “After all this time it seems that my most tedious pet has found a voice.”

  Tolly’s eyes flashed. “I have always spoken, Cazalon, but only to those worthy of hearing me.”

  The boy’s voice was clear and defiant and the words rang around the chamber.

  Cazalon kept his eyes fixed on Tolly and he began to trace a pattern in the air with his withered hand.

  After a moment he spoke. “It seems I may have underestimated you, Ptolemy. Still, the only thing I hear in your voice now is despair. You cannot save your friends. It is too late, even now your feet are turning to dust. Look boy, look at the ground beneath you. Do you see how you and stone are fused?”

  Tolly looked down and Jem saw that his friend’s bare feet appeared to be part of the cavern floor. As he watched in horror, the dark skin of Tolly’s ankles began to change colour and gradually a dull greyness crept up his legs.

  Cazalon started to laugh again and the rasping sound scraped the walls of the chamber. “What a pity it is that the moment you find a voice I have to silence it for ever.”

  Tolly yanked desperately at his feet and as he did so, a few drops of bright red blood fell from his shoulder to the stone floor. Immediately there was a hissing, spitting noise, like the sound of fat sizzling in a pan.

  The globules of Tolly’s blood formed a little pattern on the ground near his feet, but after a few seconds, instead of sinking into the dust, the blood began to move.

  At first the droplets rolled towards each other to form a single stain no larger than a robin’s breast.

  Then the patch began to spread. Very soon it was the size of a plate and then a coach wheel, all the time spreading faster and wider.

  From the centre of the flaming ring, Jem watched as little red tendrils began to shoot off from the edge of the bloodstain, winding and weaving their way across the stone.

  “What have you done?” Cazalon hissed at Tolly as the veinlike channels rippled swiftly across the circle. The count had to step back to avoid the pulsing red network that now covered most of the ring. It was as if the blood was searching for something.

  Rooted to the spot, Tolly watched in silence as the tendrils finally reached Cazalon’s feet.

  Still holding the blade outstretched, the count was now surrounded by a network of threadlike whorls and patterns on the stone.

  As the first of the tendrils touched his skin, Cazalon let out a horrible scream, as if he had been burned. He stepped back, but the weaving red filaments burrowed through the dust and quickly sought him out.<
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  Jem watched as the man’s rotten feet quickly disappeared beneath a growing network of wriggling scarlet veins.

  “This is not possible!” Cazalon gasped in pain, flailing desperately with the blade to cut at the heaving mass around his feet.

  He stared wildly at Tolly. “Who are you, boy? A witchdoctor?”

  “I too am the first-born son of a king. My father did not wear a crown or sit on a throne, but to my people, he was a mighty ruler,” replied Tolly coolly. “You bought a prince to be your servant.”

  Cazalon’s eyes widened. He looked at the seething red mass around him and then stared back at Tolly. A strange look crossed his face; his mouth opened but no words came. It was if he had suddenly discovered some terrible secret.

  “It’s the blood!” Cazalon eventually whispered. “I have spilled the blood of a prince in the Oak Grove, but not the prince made ready for the ritual. Why did you not tell me who you are?” He spat the words at Tolly.

  “You were not worth speaking to. You thought I was nothing more than an animal,” Tolly replied flatly.

  Cazalon twisted violently but he couldn’t move. Like Jem and Tolly, he was now rooted to the spot.

  The twisting, glistening veins gathered momentum as they climbed up Cazalon’s thrashing body, winding themselves tightly around his legs.

  The boys watched calmly as Cazalon continued to flail and writhe, hacking at the creeping veins.

  His voice grew wild and shrill. “Where is my staff?”

  “Here.”

  Ann’s voice was hoarse, but it was firm.

  The count’s head whipped round and he yelped as his hair was tugged by the veinlike tendrils that now curled around his waist. Ann was standing on the far side of the flames, supporting herself with Cazalon’s gnarled staff.

  “I think you will find, dear guardian, that the offering of royal blood was given, but it was not given willingly. Therefore everything will be inverted. A sacrifice must still be made today… but now, you will become that sacrifice!”

  “Never!” he snarled. “Give me my staff, now.” Ann shook her head.

  “I command you… you must…”

  His voice became a high-pitched shriek of agony as the wriggling scarlet filaments wound and curled into his blue hair, binding the arm and hand that still held the dagger. “I am not ready. It is not time. I cannot…”

  The count fought to stop the probing tendrils from creeping into his mouth and nostrils, spitting and jerking his head about.

  Then a thunderclap ripped through the air and the ring of blue flames disappeared. Instantly, the walls of the cavern dimmed, the humming ceased and the floor seemed to tilt.

  Jem suddenly felt a great jolt run through his body and he collapsed to the stone like a puppet whose strings had been cut. He could move again!

  “Cleo!”

  Tolly raced to the spot at Ann’s side where a tiny body lay crumpled in the dust. Gently he scooped the monkey into his arms.

  Jem was with them both just a second later.

  “Is she…?” he gasped.

  “Oh no. Please, no,” whispered Ann, her eyes glittering with tears as she looked down at the battered little body.

  Cleo still had a clump of Cazalon’s blue hair gripped in her paw. As the children looked, the tiny hand opened and the hair fell to the floor.

  Then Cleo took a deep shuddering breath… She was alive.

  Huddling the monkey close to his chest, Tolly scanned the tunnels leading from the chamber. “We have to get away from here! I think it’s this way.” He jerked his head.

  They began to run.

  “Stop. I– I command you to free me.” The pain-wracked voice was Cazalon’s. He was now almost completely encased in a bulging, twitching mass of wriggling veins. His head was pulled oddly to one side by the hair trapped in the throbbing scarlet network.

  “If you leave me here I will… I will…”

  Tolly stopped suddenly and turned to stare at the hideous figure.

  “What will you do?”

  He took a step towards Cazalon.

  “Tolly come on. What are you doing?” Jem was almost at the gaping entrance to a tunnel. He grabbed a candle from a niche and reached for Ann’s hand. Even in the odd grey light that now filled the cavern, he could see that she was weak with pain and exhaustion. Blood glistened on her temple.

  But Tolly took another step towards Cazalon. “What will you do?” he asked again, his voice dripping with defiant sarcasm.

  Cazalon was suddenly still. He stared at Tolly and his bloodshot eyes narrowed. When he spoke, his slow deliberate words were dipped in venom. “I will hunt you down to the ends of the earth and beyond. And when I find you, every one of you, I will ensure that the pain you have inflicted upon me today is visited upon you sevenfold.”

  Tolly took one more step so that he was almost standing next to the glistening red mummy that was Cazalon.

  “No! Tolly, don’t.” Ann tried to run to him, but Jem held her tight.

  Tolly shielded Cleo’s body, leaned closer and whispered something.

  Cazalon’s eyes grew wide with astonishment and confusion. And then he let out a huge roar as the creeping veins began to cover his eyes.

  Jem felt a sudden searing pain on his bare right shoulder. He yelped and felt for the spot. A patch of skin the size of a penny stung beneath his fingers.

  He looked up. Rain seemed to be falling from the ceiling above, but the droplets were made of flame – hot, red flame. Ann cried out as a fiery ball no bigger than a marble spattered and sizzled on her hand. Jem leaned over to shield her.

  “We have to get out of here. Now!” he yelled. “Come on, Tolly.”

  Tolly hugged Cleo closer to his chest as he hurried back to them. He scanned the four exits to the cavern and frowned.

  “Not this one. It’s that way,” he said, pointing to the dark mouth of one of the other passages.

  Jem squeezed Ann’s hand. “Do you think you can run?”

  She nodded.

  The children and the monkey pelted across the chamber, dodging the fire-rain that was falling more heavily around them now.

  They were just a few feet from the passage when a great booming noise rumbled overhead and the cavern juddered. A cloud of dust fell from the ceiling, coating their hair and skin in a layer of fine white powder.

  Tolly began to cough. “What was that?” he spluttered, trying to shield Cleo with his body.

  The noise grew louder and deeper and a crack began to fracture across the dome, dividing the head of the carved centaur from its galloping body. Ann looked up. “The cavern is splitting in two,” she shouted.

  Huge balls of fire now fell through the gaping fissure overhead and spurts of molten white-hot liquid began to cascade through the crack, splashing and fizzing on the stones around them.

  Jem shouted. “St Paul’s is on fire above us – and it’s collapsing! We have to get out of here, now!”

  The little group ran into the entrance of the passage. Jem grabbed a candle from a niche in the wall to light their way. As they disappeared into the darkness there was an odd wheezing crackling sound. Then a rasping voice rang out around the cavern.

  “Remember, I have already been to the land of the dead. I have crossed the blood bridge many times and returned. I know how to cheat death! You cannot defeat me.”

  A deafening groan grated and echoed around the vast chamber and then the children were enveloped in dust and stones as a thunder of falling rocks sealed them into the tunnel.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  Jem coughed in the dust-thickened darkness. His candle had been extinguished by the rock fall. He felt for the stone wall, carefully pulling himself to his feet.

  “Tolly? Ann? Can you hear me?” he choked.

  “Jem!” Tolly’s voice came from a little way off.

  There was a rustling noise, a sharp cry of “Ouch!” and then Jem felt a small hand on his arm.

  “Jem, is that you? Are
you all right?”

  He grabbed Ann’s hand in reply. Her voice came again. “Have you still got the candle?”

  Jem handed her the stub and seconds later he jumped as her pointed little face glowed eerily into life beside him.

  “Even an inferior sorceress like me has her uses… sometimes.”

  She grinned wearily, shielding the tiny flame with her hand.

  Moments later, Tolly, still cradling Cleo, scrabbled across the rock-strewn floor to join them.

  “We have to keep moving. This place isn’t safe,” said Tolly. He shuddered as Ann raised the candle and revealed the ink-black passage ahead of them.

  “But how will we find the way out?” said Jem. “This place is a maze. We could get lost down here for ever.”

  “I think I can find the way,” said Tolly. His eyes were huge and fearful in the gloom and he had to take a deep breath before continuing.

  “In the cathedral, I picked up Ann’s fear and it led me down to the crypts. But I– I froze down there, in the dark. I couldn’t move. I don’t know how long I stayed there, but then Cleo found me. She’d followed me into St Paul’s and then, down in the crypts, she found an ancient vault with a cracked wall. The gap led through into the old catacombs beneath the cathedral, where I knew you were.”

  Ann gasped. “Tolly, you must have been terrified. The darkness, the cramped space. I can’t believe you found us.” She cupped his cheek in her hand. “You were very brave.”

  Tolly smiled tightly. “Thank Cleo. She wouldn’t let me give up.”

  He snuggled the monkey closer.

  “So that’s how you found us?” asked Jem.

  Tolly shook his head. “Do you remember that time on the ice, Jem, when we saw the poor drowned pedlar girl? I’ll never forget that day. It was when I discovered that, along with animals, the dead can talk to me.”

  He laughed grimly. “So when I came into the catacombs to find you, I– I simply asked the way.”

  Jem shivered. “You mean you… you talked to the skulls?”

  Tolly nodded. “The worst thing is that most of them don’t understand. They don’t know they are dead. They all want to talk. Like that girl in the ice – she asked me when she could go home.”