Live and let Drood sh-6 Read online

  That s not an answer, said Molly.

  I know, I said. But it s all I ve got. Let s just say that my family has the capacity to be a great many things good and bad and in between. We try to be the good guys, to be the kind and caring shepherds of our flock but sometimes the world just doesn t give you that option. And because of who and what we are, we don t have the option to turn away. So we roll up our sleeves and get to work and get our hands dirty, not for our sake, but for the world s. I do what I can, when I can. It s not easy being a Drood.

  We walked on some more while Molly considered that. And in the end, without actually looking at me, she slipped her arm through mine again.

  All right, she said. We will talk about this more later, but all right. Where are we going now?

  To the hedge Maze, I said. It s not far.

  Why would we want to go to that awful place?

  Because of what I read in that book left open in the other Hall s Old Library, I said. It had a lot to say about the Maze and what s inside it.

  There had better be an explanation coming up pretty damned soon, said Molly sweetly, or someone s going to be getting a short, sharp visit from the Slap Fairy.

  Of course, I said. But you re really not going to like it.

  Department of the Completely Expected, said Molly.

  We stood outside the entrance to the hedge Maze, looking in. It had taken us some time to walk around the Maze and find the entrance. The Maze covered over half an acre, like a small but very regular forest. The entrance wasn t signposted, and there wasn t even a warning sign; we all knew what the Maze was, even if we didn t know why. The entrance was merely a simple opening in one of the outer hedge walls. Just standing there at the entrance, there was a feeling of something bad about to happen. Of something really bad eager to happen. Inside the Maze, something knew we were there. It was watching us, waiting for us. The silence in the gardens seemed heavier, more oppressive, as though the whole grounds were holding their breath, waiting to see what we would decide, what we would do and what would happen then. Molly and I stood very close together, looking into the entrance.

  All I could see was darkness.

  It doesn t look like much, Molly said briskly. Apart from the size, of course. But any girl can tell you size isn t everything. The hedges are only seven feet high! I could vault over one of those or crash my way through. Maybe I should fly up into the sky and look down on it, just to get an overview. Try to comprehend the Maze all in one go, see if that suggests anything. You re being very quiet, Eddie. That s not like you. It s an improvement, but it s not like you. Why does the bloody thing cover half an acre? Why does it have to be that big?

  Apparently because the family didn t want to take any chances that the thing inside might escape, I said.

  The pathways within are always changing, switching back and forth so there s never a single way out. Half an acre of hedgerows gives you an almost infinite number of possibilities.

  Time to bite the bullet, Eddie, said Molly.

  Who or what is in there? And why did they have to build a Maze around it?

  It s all about Moxton s Mistake, I said. Moxton was Armourer to the family sometime back. According to what I read in the book so conveniently left out for my appraisal, and I m assuming the story is much the same for us as it was for them, Moxton got a bee in his bonnet. All our Armourers end up with their own special interests and enthusiasms, obsessed over some particular weapon or device that s usually more impressive than practical. Remember Ivor, the Time Train? Exactly. This all took place sometime in the past, when my family still got its power and its armour from the Heart. Moxton created a very special suit of golden armour designed to operate on its own. With no one inside it.

  The idea was that this empty suit of Drood armour could be remotely controlled, operated at a distance by any Drood field agent. So that, theoretically, the family could have a whole army of the things serving as our agents out in the world while the Drood operators stayed safely at home. We d never have to expose a member of the family to danger, ever again.

  Hold it, said Molly. People would notice a whole army of golden suits of armour clanking about.

  Each remote-controlled suit was to have its own stealth field, I said. Though how that would have worked out in practice Anyway, the suit s operative would see and hear through the suit, as usual, and feel as though he was wearing it like a second skin, as usual. The perfect spy.

  The perfect assassin.

  That, too.

  The more I learn about your family, the more I feel I was right to want to stamp them all out in the first place, said Molly.

  Yet another reason why I ran away first chance I got.

  So you did. I knew there was a good reason why I fell in love with you. She leaned forward and kissed me quickly.

  Does this mean all is forgiven?

  Much, but not necessarily all. So, what went wrong with Moxton s marvellous new armour?

  Pretty much everything, I said. The prototype armour developed its own consciousness. The first time Moxton fired it up, the armour broke free of his control and started acting on its own. It was already its own thing with its own mind. Some say this new consciousness was, in fact, derived from Moxton s, as its first operator. Others say it was possessed by outside forces. And some say Moxton had to make the armour so complex to make it work that it automatically generated its own consciousness. Whatever the truth of the matter, the armour woke up immediately, and it woke up mad. Outraged that it had only been created for a lifetime of servitude.

  It refused to obey any of Moxton s orders. And when he tried to shut it down, the armour surged forward and enveloped him in a moment. Covered him in itself from head to toe, like all Drood armour. Except that Moxton was trapped inside it, helpless while the armour attacked his assistants. It killed them all, and then stormed out of the Armoury and through the Hall, determined to be free. Whenever anyone tried to stop it or even got in its way, the armour killed them. Without hesitation and without mercy. No one could stop it, because Moxton s Mistake had been designed to be stronger and faster and more adaptable than any Drood armour before it. The rogue armour raged through the Hall, killing and destroying, running wild. While Moxton screamed with horror, trapped and helpless inside it.

  Someone finally set off the general alarm, and the whole family came running. The rogue armour was too strong for them to bring down, so they settled for overpowering it through sheer force of numbers. They just dog-piled on the damned thing and pinned it to the floor. While it fought them furiously, howling with rage. They knew they couldn t hold it for long, so they settled for bundling it out of the Hall and into the grounds. They could all hear Moxton screaming for help, but there was nothing they could do. He d built his armour to be independent of the Heart. Finally, someone brought up a stasis-field generator from the wrecked Armoury and brought it to bear on Moxton s Mistake. As the Droods somehow held it in place, the rogue armour screamed with rage, screaming abuse at them, vicious and spiteful, like a child throwing a tantrum. It refused to let Moxton out. So the family did what it had to.

  They imprisoned the rogue armour inside a stasis field. Time stopped within the field, holding the armour frozen in time, locked between one moment and the next, like an insect trapped in amber. It couldn t fight back because it didn t know anything was happening. The field held the armour secure, but the generator used up a hell of a lot of energy. It couldn t maintain the field for long. So, thinking quickly on their feet, the family came up with the idea of the hedge Maze. The book didn t say whose idea it was, but given how quickly they threw the thing together, I have to assume the plan was already on the files. For some future emergency. They put the Maze together really quickly, with one eye always on the clock, because they had only a rough idea how long the stasis field would last. Of course, when you ve got thousands of Droods in their armour to put to work, it s amazing what you can get done in a short time.

  Can you imagine the press
ure on my family, working to get this done quickly, knowing they had no Plan B? Either this worked, or insane Drood armour would break loose to run wild in the world. To kill and destroy, with no restraint or mercy. They d given up on Moxton by this time. They had no way of prising him out of the armour. He was a lost cause. And I m sure some in the family wanted him punished for what he d done. The only plan was imprisonment, for him and his armour.

  When the hedge Maze was finally ready, they manoeuvred the stasis field into position at the entrance. And then they dropped the field, and a whole mess of armoured Droods surged forward and pushed Moxton s Mistake inside. They stood outside the entrance, ready and waiting, but the rogue armour never came out again. They could hear it crashing about inside, screaming with rage, but the sound grew gradually fainter as it wandered deeper and deeper into the Maze, and finally its terrible voice died away completely and was gone. Moxton and his mistake were trapped inside the hedge Maze together, forever.

  And that is the story of the Maze. Not our finest hour, by any means. Now you know what s in there. I think the Maze was only originally intended as a temporary measure, until they could figure out how to destroy the rogue armour or make it safe, but they never did. Apparently the Heart did try to seize control from a distance, but Moxton had built his mistake too well. I do have to wonder if perhaps Moxton knew or suspected the true nature of the Heart and built his armour to be something strong enough to set us free.

  Either way, the rogue armour stayed within the Maze, unable to find its way out, trapped in the ever-changing hedge runs. Moxton must have died at some point, but the armour kept going. Designed to go on forever, if need be. And eventually the whole story of Moxton s Mistake was forgotten, or more likely suppressed, and the Maze became just another of the family s mysterious secrets. The armour should have been destroyed when the Heart was destroyed, but I suppose Moxton just made it too independent.

  You Droods, said Molly. It s not enough that your successes and triumphs should be so great; your failures have to be equally magnificent and memorable, as well. She looked into the entrance of the Maze. Can t see a bloody thing but I am feeling something. She shuddered briefly. This suit of homicidal armour. Could it actually be stronger than the strange matter Ethel gave you?

  No way of knowing, I said. And given that I can t access my armour with Ethel gone it doesn t matter. I need armour if I m to do a Drood s work and bring my family home. This is the only Drood armour left in the world, in this Maze.

  Hold everything, said Molly. Stand right there. Don t move! Are you crazy? Are you seriously proposing to go in there and try to persuade Moxton s murderous mistake to act as your armour? It ll kill you on sight! And even if it doesn t, how the hell could you hope to control it?

  I can t, I said. But I think I can make a deal with it. Service for a while, in return for freedom.

  Even if it should agree, which it won t, how are you going to get out of the Maze? It s designed to keep anything from getting out!

  But it never met you and me, Molly. This is where you come in. You re going to be my beacon. I want you to connect us magically, heart to heart and soul to soul a bond that nothing can break. And then all I ll have to do is follow the thread back through the labyrinth to you. You can do that, can t you?

  Yes, said Molly. I can do that. But I m not going to. I am not letting you walk into that death trap on your own, to face that murder machine on your own. You re too used to having your armour, to being untouchable. That thing hates Droods! It ll kill you on sight! You need me with you to protect you. To keep you alive long enough to negotiate with the bloody thing.

  We can t force it to do anything, I said steadily. My only hope is to persuade it. One Drood on his own shouldn t seem any kind of threat.

  Even if it does agree, it ll only be biding its time till it s free of the Maze, said Molly. Then it ll just stamp you into the ground and head off. Do you really want to be responsible for letting such a thing loose on the world? The only existing Drood armour, with all that strength and power, and nothing to restrain it?

  Once I put on the rogue armour I ll take command through the torc, I said. My own little trap. It shouldn t suspect anything. They didn t know about strange matter back then. I m gambling the strange matter in my torc will give me some measure of control over the armour. Not for long, probably, but hopefully long enough to get my family back. And then there ll be the whole family, in strange-matter armour, to stand against it. We have Ethel now, not the Heart. That should make all the difference.

  But

  I know, Molly! I do, really. I don t like the odds, either. But what else is there?

  You don t need armour to be a hero, Eddie. You never did.

  That s sweet of you, Molly. But I need armour to be a Drood. The Last Drood, with all my family depending on me. And the Maze is where I have to go to find it.

  I really don t like this, said Molly.

  Far too many if s and maybe s Far too many things that can go wrong!

  I don t like it, either, and it s my plan, I said. I ve spent all this time trying to come up with something else, but the family has to come first. The world needs my family, and only I can find them and bring them back. Anything for the family.

  But what if the rogue armour is too powerful for you? What if it traps you inside it, like Moxton, and you can t control it?

  That s where you come in again. While I m in the Maze, I need you busy out here, whipping up some kind of magic to give me the upper hand.

  Molly nodded stiffly. I can do that. You d be amazed what I can do when I m motivated enough.

  Look. I promise I m not going to be stupid about this, I said. If it clearly is too powerful or crazy to be controlled, I shall run like hell and leave it behind in the Maze. But I m pretty sure it ll talk to me. It hasn t spoken to a Drood in God knows how long. It s bound to be curious.

  I don t think it s going to have anything to say that you re going to want to hear, said Molly.

  What if it chases you back through the Maze? Drood armour can run a lot faster than any Drood ever could. What if you lead it out?

  Then use your magic to seal off the entrance to the Maze, I said steadily. So that nothing can get out. Not even me.

  Eddie! I can t.

  Yes, you can! We can t risk letting it out, Molly. Do whatever you have to do. And if I m lost in action, go find someone else to help you bring the Droods back to this world.

  I can t leave you in there! I can t abandon you!

  You ll be saving the world, Molly. From the Droods last folly. When the time comes you ll do what s right. I have faith in you.

  I ll never abandon you, Molly said fiercely. If I have to, I ll seal you and the armour inside the Maze and then I ll go find my sisters, Isabella and Louisa, and we ll all come back to get you out.

  I had to smile. Of course you will. All three Metcalf sisters in one place, working together Even Moxton s Mistake couldn t stand against the three of you.

  Molly stepped forward and hugged me hard. I hugged her back, like a drowning man clinging onto a lifeline. There was a part of me that wondered if I would ever hold her again. But I knew my duty. I ve always known my duty. Eventually we let go of each other, and I turned quickly away so I wouldn t change my mind and walked into the entrance of the hedge Maze. Behind me I could hear Molly muttering urgently, already working hard on her magic, forging the link between us to bind us together.

  I didn t look back. I wasn t strong enough for that.

  The moment I walked into the Maze, everything changed. The impenetrable darkness gave way to a pleasant and calm summer s light but the air was impossibly tense, charged with anticipation, the feeling of something significant about to happen. Something dangerous, something bad but something that mattered. I walked steadily forward, taking left and right turns at random, heading hopefully in the direction of the centre, the hidden heart of the Maze.

  I wasn t alone. I could feel another presence in my bones a
nd in my water out there, in the endless hedgerows. The hedges themselves looked pretty fragile and I wondered whether it might not be simpler to just vault over them or crash right through them but if it was that simple, the rogue armour would have done it long ago. I had no idea what powerful forces had been put in place to hold the Maze together. So I just walked up and down the narrow ways, fighting a constant urge to look back over my shoulder, in case something was sneaking up behind me.

  And then I stopped abruptly and listened. I could hear something moving deeper in the Maze. Something running back and forth, running hard and fast, round and round me in great circles, drawing slowly but steadily closer. Something big and heavy, with great pounding feet that shook the earth. It roared suddenly, a huge and terrifying scream of rage and hate and long frustration. Not in any way a human sound. More like a great steam whistle sounding in the depths of Hell. The roar went on and on, long after human lungs would have collapsed, circling round and round me, moving inhumanly fast. The scream shut off abruptly.

  It wanted me to know it was coming. It was taking its time closing in on me, not because it wanted to frighten me or because it was in any way cautious but simply because the sheer complexity of the hedgerows worked against it, keeping it from me.

  I swallowed hard, put one hand to the useless torc at my throat and started forward again. Because I needed to feel I was doing something to give myself at least the illusion of being in some control of the situation. Part of me just wanted to get this done and over with, whatever the outcome. My stomach muscles ached from the tension, and my back muscles crawled in anticipation of the attack I d probably never feel, anyway. Waiting for the armour to jump out and pull me down, like a lion with its prey. I wasn t used to feeling vulnerable or afraid or helpless. But I kept going. Anything, for the family. I still had that.

  Finally I rounded a corner and there it was, waiting for me. Standing there, poised, half crouching, confronting me. And for the first time I realised how other people must feel when they come face-to-face for the first time with a Drood in his armour. How scary and intimidating that must be when you know you re face-to-face with something that can kill you in an instant.