Live and let Drood sh-6 Read online

  There was still no response from the undine. Molly glared at the reverse waterfall, rolled up her sleeves and ran through a whole new series of gestures, throwing in half a dozen really unpleasant Words. The waterfall stopped again and resumed its normal downward path. But even as the waters thundered down the cliff face, they were already starting to steam, becoming boiling hot. The gentle haze at the foot of the fall disappeared, replaced with thick clouds of scalding steam. I backed away a few steps. Molly didn t.

  Still no sign of the undine.

  Dark brooding thunderclouds appeared out of nowhere in the pleasant summer sky. A shadow fell across the great lake and nowhere else. Thunder roared and lightning stabbed down. Great gusting winds moved across the surface of the waters, raising massive waves that slammed back and forth, sending blasts of disturbed water splashing high over the sides of the lake. And still the undine wouldn t answer.

  Molly was breathing harshly now and not just from the effort of so much hard conjuring. She kicked off her boots so she could dig her bare feet deep into the grassy lawn. Molly had a lot to say about being one with nature, but that usually meant nature doing what it was told, where Molly was concerned. She shot me a dark look, flicking her dark hair out of her sweaty face.

  Give me a minute. I m just getting started. I m damned if I m being ignored by a bloody jumped-up water elemental. Soon as I get my breath back, I ll call up something so impressive and unnerving it ll blast all the water out of this lake, crush the whole cliff face into rubble and tie the waterfall in a knot!

  Let me try something else first, I said, soothingly. Just while you get your breath back. I walked up to the water s edge and addressed the steaming waterfall politely.

  Hello. Sorry about all that. Look. I m Eddie Drood. I really do need your help. Please talk to me.

  The waterfall seemed to pause, halting itself in midfall while it considered the matter, and then slowly the undine appeared, forming herself out of the falling waters themselves. The whole waterfall bulged out here and there, taking on a human shape some thirty feet tall. She stood before the cliff face, looking down at Molly and me, towering over us. A force of nature made woman by an act of will. I made a point of standing as tall as I could while still remaining respectful, just to show I wasn t in any way intimidated. Molly stuck both hands on her hips and glared right up at the undine. I don t think Molly s ever been intimidated by anything in her entire life. The undine was now a huge naked female shape composed entirely of water, and oddly proportioned. As though the human shape was something she only vaguely remembered. Her face was a smooth blur, more an impression of human features than anything fixed. And when she finally spoke, her voice sounded like gurgling waters.

  Who disturbs me at this time? Did I not make my wishes clear and explicit? Let me sleep, sleep and dream, of better times.

  I need to know what happened here, I said steadily. I need to know what happened to the Hall and to my family and all the things that used to live here on the grounds.

  They went away. A storm rose around the Hall, reaching out across the grounds and when it was gone, so was everything else. Let me sleep, sleep and dream till I forget.

  The last few gurgling sounds were almost unintelligible. Her body lost all shape and definition, washed away by falling waters, and her face sank back into the waterfall and was gone. The steam disappeared as the waters cooled, and the hazy mist slowly reestablished itself. Molly sniffed loudly.

  Demon lady wailing for her human lover. Your family really does have a gift for messing up lives. Doesn t it?

  You women always stick together, I said.

  The conversation with the undine having proved rather less helpful than I d hoped for, Molly and I walked on across the grounds, leaving the lake behind us and heading towards the small copse of beech trees. Not an area I d ever approached by choice before. The grassy lawns blazed a brilliant green under our feet, and the sky was almost painfully blue. A perfect summer s day. No clouds, no birds, not even the buzz of insects going about their business. The grounds were as still and silent as a graveyard. Someone or something had reached out and stripped the grounds of every living thing that should have been there.

  Why didn t our outer defences kick in automatically? I said to distract myself. I mean, this whole place is lousy with built-in protections. Robot guns, sonic weapons, nerve gasses, stroboscopic lights and hallucinogenic mists, and a whole bunch of things the Geneva Convention s never even heard of. Not to mention all the magical protections, the shaped curses and invisible flying hexes They couldn t have been off-line; they weren t linked to the other Hall s Operations and War rooms.

  You re not thinking it through, said Molly. The Hall, your Hall, disappeared the moment Alpha Red Alpha was activated. There was no detectable attack from outside, so your protections never knew anything was wrong till it was all over.

  All right, then, clever boots. What has happened to all the local wildlife? The gryphons and the unicorns? The birds and the bees?

  Your enemy must have boosted Alpha Red Alpha s field when they activated it by remote control, said Molly.

  To make sure they didn t miss any Droods who might be out and about in the grounds. So everything living here went where the Hall went. It s what I would have done.

  I had to smile, just a little. You don t miss a trick, do you, when it comes to death and destruction?

  Years of practice, Molly said blithely. Eddie why have we stopped here? I am looking around me and all I see is trees. Really quite boring trees.

  I looked carefully around me. We re not alone here. It s just I haven t called them yet. I m going to have to ask you to trust me here, Molly. Trust me to know what I m doing.

  Oh, that s always dangerous, said Molly.

  Why are you looking so upset, Eddie?

  You don t remember this part of the grounds, do you? I said carefully. We have been here before, in these trees.

  No, said Molly, scowling around her. Should I remember?

  Yes, I said. We came through here when we broke into the grounds together. This is where the family keeps its scarecrows.

  I called to them silently, reaching out through the authority still built into my torc, and one by one they materialised out of nowhere, appearing all around us. I knew some of them. Laura Lye, the water elemental assassin, also known as the Liquidator. She drowned three Drood children before we brought her down. Mad Frankie Phantasm, who drifted through bedroom doors to murder innocents in their sleep. Roland the Headless Gunner, who should have stayed dead in Africa. And many more infamous names. One by one they blinked into existence, acknowledging the power I had over them as a Drood. Scarecrows, all of them, made from the bodies of our fallen enemies. Held back from the release of death to guard our grounds for us, forever and a day, or until they wore out.

  They formed circles and then rows around us, filling the copse of trees. They wore battered clothes from many periods of history. Dead but not departed, because my family wouldn t let them go. Just enough life left in them to torment them. Because no one threatens us where we live and gets away with it.

  Molly moved in close beside me. She remembered the scarecrows now.

  My family makes scarecrows out of the bodies of our most hated enemies. Because we can, and because we believe in making the punishment fit the crime. Their faces are weather-beaten skin, stretched taut as parchment and just as brittle, cracked here and there by exposure to the elements. Thick tufts of straw protrude from their ears and mouths, but we leave their eyes. So we can see their suffering. Our enemies may hate us, but my family hates harder and longer. If you listen in on the right supernatural frequency, you can hear the scarecrows screaming.

  I thought we destroyed them said Molly. Her voice was little more than a whisper.

  They can t be destroyed, I said. That s the point. Tear them to pieces, burn them up; they just come back again. For as long as they re needed. They ll endure for as long as their scarecrow bodies last, and
my family makes them well, to last centuries.

  Where are they? said Molly. When they aren t here?

  Close by, I said. Hanging on their scarecrow crosses, waiting to be called. Don t look at me like that, Molly. These are my family s worst and most vicious enemies. They deserve this.

  Do they? What about him?

  She stabbed a hand shaking with emotion at one of the more recent scarecrows. The straw-stuffed thing we d made out of the Blue Fairy s body.

  Half elf, half Druid, we took him in and made him part of the family. Even though we knew what he was and what he d done in the past. I vouched for him. And then we went to war together, against the Loathly Ones, and he struck down a Drood in the middle of battle, from behind, and stole his torc. I trusted him, and he betrayed me. I forgave him eventually. Just before he died in the great spy game of the Independent Agent, Alexander King.

  He isn t in there, I said to Molly.

  He was already dead when I sent him back to the Hall. That s just his body.

  But why is he here? He was your friend! How could you allow your family to make him over into that?

  Because he stole a torc, I said steadily.

  There is no greater crime against the Droods. Punishment, like justice, must be seen to be done. The scarecrows aren t just our defenders; they re a warning to our enemies.

  He was your friend, Molly said coldly.

  I wouldn t have brought him back alive, I said. But there are many kinds of duty and responsibility when you re a Drood. Why do you think I ran away first chance I got?

  Sometimes your family frightens me, said Molly.

  Sometimes they frighten me, I said. But we frighten our enemies more.

  I turned slowly round in a circle, looking the scarecrows over carefully. More and more of them were still blinking into existence, answering my call. Dozens and dozens of them, maybe hundreds I hadn t realised there were so many. All of them standing unnaturally still, waiting for orders. Watching me with the eyes my family left them, hating and suffering and Apparently there was a limit to what the Alpha Red Alpha field could affect. Or maybe they just weren t alive enough. At least now I could make sure the Hall and grounds would be protected while I was gone.

  Eddie, said Molly. I have seen and done bad things in my time, but never anything as cold-blooded as this. Enemies forced into half-life, denied the release of death, held as slaves until they wear out This isn t right, Eddie.

  No, it isn t, I said. But it s necessary. There has to be someone here to fight for the Hall and the family on the few occasions, like this, when we can t fight for ourselves. There has to be something here awful enough to frighten off those who aren t frightened enough of Droods. Remember when the grounds were overrun by the army of Accelerated Men? Suicide soldiers sent in to kill us all, men and women and children? We used the scarecrows to guard the perimeter while we went out in our armour to meet the Accelerated Men head-to-head and hand-to-hand. They came to slaughter us, to wipe us out, and we killed them all. But that wasn t enough. A message had to be sent to those watching from a distance.

  So we took the bodies of the Accelerated Men, all of them, and made them into scarecrows. Stuffed with straw, hanging on their crosses, waiting to be called. Because that s what you get for threatening our children.

  Look at them, Molly. There are hundreds of them. More appearing all the time. I don t know how many there are; I ve never cared enough to find out. I m sure someone knows the exact number and keeps a watchful eye on them so the rest of us don t have to. Duties and responsibilities for all of us. Remember? It s enough that the family is protected, Molly. We don t need to know all the details. It s enough that our enemies know what we re capable of.

  It s times like this, said Molly, that I want to bring your family down more than ever.

  We only do such awful things, I said, because our enemies are capable of so much worse. It s necessary.

  Very good, Eddie. Now try saying it like you mean it. You don t approve of this, Eddie! You couldn t! You said yourself, the grounds are lousy with defences! Why do you need bloody scarecrows?

  Because of the effect they have, I said. Because they upset people just the way they re upsetting you now. I might not approve but the needs of the family are always going to be bigger than the needs of one man.

  Oh, very good, Eddie! That s a fine Drood answer! I m sure that s what your ancestors said when they sold your souls to the Heart!

  She turned her back on me. I m sure she would have liked to stride away, but she couldn t bring herself to walk through the ranks and rows of scarecrows.

  I let her have her moment while I went about my necessary business. I sent the scarecrows out to guard the perimeter of the grounds, with strict orders to keep everyone out until I said otherwise, but not to kill unless they were under actual attack. They turned and stomped off onto the grounds, on their stiff scarecrow legs, lurching along like the dead straw men they were. I could have sent Molly off on some errand, away from the copse of beech trees, but I made up my mind a long time ago that I would never keep secrets from my Molly. All the good and all the bad in me; she had to see it all if we were to have any chance of a future together. It s not easy loving a Drood.

  Ask the undine.

  When the scarecrows were all gone, I set off across the grounds again, and Molly walked stiffly at my side, staring straight ahead, saying nothing. I could have said any number of things, but I didn t. This was something she had to work out for herself. Finally we came to the new earth barrow at the far end of the grounds the huge earth mound where the Armourer had buried the severed dragon s head I d brought back from Germany. (Well, I say he buried it, but I very much doubt he did it himself. That s what lab assistants are for.) I d found the dragon s head while scoping out Castle Frankenstein, then home to my family s mortal enemies, the Immortals. Apparently the fifteenth-century Baron Frankenstein cut the dragon s head off when it menaced the local populace, but such ancient creatures are very hard to kill. The Baron buried the severed head under what became a hill, overlooking the Rhine River. I got into conversation with the dragon s head (my world s like that some days), and it seemed a pleasant enough creature, much mellowed by its long centuries under the hill, so I had it transported back home with me. The Armourer swears he ll find a way to grow it a new body. He s always wanted to have his very own pet dragon, if only so he can cock a snook at all the other secret organisations that don t have one.

  Sometimes I get the feeling the Armourer isn t entirely all there.

  Two great golden eyes opened in the side of the great earth barrow and regarded Molly and me thoughtfully. Molly jumped, despite herself, and punched me hard in the arm.

  You could have warned me!

  Sorry, said the dragon, in its warm, comfortable voice. It s just that I do so love company. The Armourer often comes out here to spend time with me, and many of his assistants and any number of other Droods but after all the centuries I spent under that hill, I m reluctant to miss an opportunity.

  So, how are you settling in? I said. Just to be saying something.

  Very nicely, thank you, Eddie. Is this the wild witch herself, your lady love, Molly Metcalf? She is just as beautiful as you said she was.

  Molly looked at me. You primed him to say that.

  This is a dragon, I pointed out. Very hard to get a dragon to say anything he doesn t want to.

  I like the view here, said the dragon. Not as dramatic as the Rhine, but this is a much more peaceful location. And the company is much more convivial. The Immortals never lowered themselves to speak with me. Just dumped their rubbish on my hill. Arrogant little tossers. Too busy messing up the world to stop and chat with a mere dragon s head. I like it much better here. The younger Droods are always popping out to sit around the mound and talk about all kinds of things. I had no idea the world had changed so much since my time. You miss a lot, buried under a hill. The Armourer s promised to set up something called a television for me, and I am
looking forward to that. I like the children, too. Always coming and going It makes me feel like part of the family. And it s good to be in a garden again, to be a part of Nature once more, to see the flight of birds and hear their song, to see the animals running to and fro, to feel the silent pulse of growing things all around.

  Sorry to interrupt you, I said, and I genuinely was. But something bad has happened to the Hall and my family. Did you see anything?

  There was a great roar, said the dragon slowly. Not a living sound, not a thing of the natural world. And after that, everything went quiet. No one s been out to talk to me in ever such a long time. Has something happened to the family, Eddie?

  Yes, I said. But don t worry. Molly and I are on the case. We ll put everything back the way it should be.

  I wish there was something I could do to help; but I m just a head. The Armourer has promised me a body, but that s still a long way off in the Future.

  Keep an eye on things for me, I said. And don t talk to any strangers.

  The dragon chuckled. Not much else I could do to them. Though I could shout Boo! very loudly if they came close enough.

  You are happy to be here? said Molly.

  You don t feel you re held here against your will?

  Of course not, Molly. Eddie brought me here, brought me home. I love being a Drood. They re very dragonlike, in their way.

  We made our good-byes and walked on. Molly strode along beside me, thinking so hard I could practically hear it. Finally she started talking again, though at rather than to me.

  I just don t get you, Eddie. Or your family. You dig up a dragon s head and bring it back with you like it s some stray dog you found, because you felt sorry for it. Your family adopts it and makes it part of the family. But you re also the kind of people who make those bloody scarecrows.

  I am large. I contain multitudes, I said solemnly. Especially on Tuesdays.