Chapter 37 - The Kraken Gate
‘Chief, may I have a word?’ Inigo had found me on the lawn, adding his own trail of footprints through the dew to mine.
I was breathing hard, morning exercises just done. It was easier to move now that my bruised ribs had healed. The afterglow of the workout was keeping the crisp morning at bay. The air was clear all the way to the Kingsridge Mountains, making them appear closer than usual. The snow line on the jagged peaks was lower than when we arrived. I glanced across at Inigo who was wearing a black coat with a yellow scarf wrapped round his neck. I figured some of the inhibitor wristbands hadn’t passed muster.
‘I reckon the weather’s going to turn cold soon. What’s on your mind, Mr. Forbes?’
‘Na-Su’s done a great job, hasn’t she?’ Inigo gazed across the lawn that ran down to meadows which were populated with ornamental pine trees and towering ironwood specimens up to the western wall. North and east of us lay an orchard, grasses kept in order by a flock of Caddrian Blackback sheep. He’d had an idea.
‘Amazing,’ I said. ‘I can’t wait to see what’s in the next consignment. Will you walk with me to the stables? Mr. Morten got word to me that the stockade stakes are ready for inspection.’
We’d gone about ten paces when Inigo spoke again. ’Today is Siguthday.’
‘I know. The boffins worked through the night again.’
‘Do you think it’ll be ready?’
‘Professor Maddison thinks so, but he looked like shit when I went to see him.’
‘I’m worried they might make mistakes because they’re all so tired,’ Inigo admitted. He had more to say, but was taking his time to work up to it.
‘I won’t say that I’m unconcerned, but I’ll be honest…it’s our part in this that’s keeping me awake at night.’ Jenniver certainly wasn’t keeping me awake. She’d gone to ground which I was feeling grumpy about. Doubtless, she was working overtime like the other scientists, but she hadn’t said a word to me since she’d come to my room.
‘Anything specific?’
‘Other than we have to cross a million-million leagues in a largely untested machine of unimaginable complexity to do battle with an aggressive alien creature using antique weapons while a host of shadowy enemies on this world try to kill us? No, not really.’
‘Hmm, yes. Nice summary, chief. I may have an idea to help with the weapons, though.’
I stopped. ‘Oh? I thought you said that Na-Su had done a good job.’
‘She has, chief, but you can never have too many weapons.’
‘Alright. What’s your idea then?
‘Quicklime.’
‘Quicklime?’
Inigo ran a casual hand through the hair that flopped down over his eyes, pushing it aside. I don’t know why he bothered. It never stayed put.
‘They’ve got eyes, haven’t they, these Charg?’
They had eyes, but I wracked my brains trying to remember the exact description. ‘On top of their heads…sort of like crabs’ eyes, on stalks.’
‘Well then, eyes are a terrible weakness in any creature. Soft and easily damaged. I found out when I was trying out a way to fast-cure Krang. Quicklime has a drying effect, and as it happens, adds a bit of extra fizz to the end product, but gods help anyone who got it in their eyes.’
The Council handed out alms to the poor more often than Inigo talked of his former life. He wasn’t proud of it. I started walking again and Inigo’s story started coming out.
‘I got some on my fingers one day in the lab. Just a small amount. Later on, I rubbed my eye and nearly went blind. It was agony. I spent the next two bells with my head under a tap. It was two days before I could open my eye properly.’ There was more to the story that Inigo wasn’t telling.
‘So we throw it at the Charg?’ I offered ‘Blind them.’
‘It won’t work if their eyes are dry, or protected behind a membrane,’ Inigo warned.
‘Do you think Na-Su could design us a catapult of sorts?
‘You already weaponised it, didn’t you?’ I said to Inigo.
‘You don’t know what the underworld is like,’ he said softly. ‘Either you’re one of the kingpins, owning the streets and the enjoying the protection of heavies for the perks you can give them, or you’re dirt, picking at scraps around the edges, mostly hoping you won’t get in anybody’s way. You have to use every angle, every advantage you have, and then invent new ones. It only takes a few weeks before your old advantages are worthless; copied or countered.’
‘And I guess you’re always looking over your shoulder.’
Inigo nodded ruefully. ‘Loyalty is easily bought. All it takes is a word out of place, or your reputation to slip a notch, then one of your bodyguards is working for the enemy, spying, or slipping up to you with a knife.’
‘And I thought the army was tough!’
‘I don’t know. After a while you just get used to it, numb to the constant terror. Maybe that’s why so many of the ones at the top eventually fall. They stop worrying.’ Inigo was staring at the floor. He was reliving those times, and he wasn’t comfortable with the memories. I waited, deciding he would tell me more if he wanted to.
‘I learned that my right-hand man was planning to steal the secret of how we made the drug. He was going to visit the lab, take the notes and anything else he could lay his hands on to get in with a rival gang. I set a simple trap, a bowl of quicklime above the door. It went all over him. Gods…the screams. I never heard anything like it. He tore his own eyes out.’ It was the longest I’d ever heard Inigo talk about his former life.
‘He knew what he was doing,’ I offered. ‘He got greedy when he should have been thankful of your protection.’
Inigo nodded and looked up at me, a harrowed expression in his green eyes. ‘The lure of all that money…there’s absolutely zero compassion. You know,’ he finished, ‘I’m glad I was caught.’
‘Don’t worry.’ I squeezed his shoulder. We’d reached the stables. ‘You’ve taken a different path now. Let’s speak with Na-Su about your idea. It sounds promising.’
‘Thanks. Look,’ Inigo pointed. ‘There’s a large stack of logs by the stables. Is that the stockade?’
It looked right. There were four piles of lumber, cut into specific shapes. There were two piles of sharpened stakes; short ones that were fifteen hands long, and longer ones that were twenty-one hands long. The head groundsman arrived just then with one of his apprentices in tow. He explained the two other stacks.
‘Those there are joists,’ he said. ‘They lie flat on the ground. You attach the blunt end of the stakes to them. These other ones are bracers. The also attach to the joist and run vertically up to the stakes to propping them up. Master Logan!’ He waved his apprentice forward. ‘Show the mistress, if you would.’
The apprentice hauled one of the joists from its pile. Like the other pieces, it was roughly cut and still had a lot of bark on, but sections had been carefully cut out, into which the other items would fit. The apprentice then held up a stake and one of the bracers, showing us how they would join, and Mr. Morten showed us a sack full of large diameter dowels that were to be hammered through the pieces of wood to keep them in place. It was an impressive structure that looked to be easy to assemble.
‘No metal hammers allowed through the gate,’ I said.
‘You mentioned that, Ms. Derringer,’ nodded the head groundsman. ‘I do believe you mentioned that, which is why I had my lads run up four ironwood mallets for you. Will that do?’
‘It’s all first-rate, Mr. Morten. I’m indebted to you.’
‘Not at all, ma’am,’ he replied. ‘Mister Harman said we was to render you any assistance you required.’
The remainder of the day passed in a whirl. After lunch we used used ribbon tied to sticks to cordoned off an area of the grounds between the lake and the orchards, then we set up some hay bales at one end for target practice. Naturally, Mahkran excelled in the use of the crossbows. He helped us all to improve our accuracy. Even Ellen had a go, but she wasn’t strong enough to cock the bow, so the Gulreimian had to reload it for her. No one was able to throw the pikes further than James, whose best effort measured an enormous one-hundred and twenty-nine hands.
After all the exertions of the day, I was barely able to stay awake through the evening meal, and as I was due to take a turn on watch in the early morning, I retired to my room early and locked the door, Benjamin’s advice ringing in my ears.
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